Inhumanity
by KazumiTheFearless
Summary: Train. Fight. Kill. Obtain... obtain. She never knew it would come at once, but Akira Okamoto is saved by two mysterious Imperial Demon Soldiers named Shinoa and Yuichiro. The only thing that wasn't spared was her family as they lay dead on the floor, killed. As Akira finds out about these people, darker secrets endanger them all, and inhumanity of others threaten her new family...
1. The Abandoned City

_**To fellow readers and writers that are viewing this fan fiction,**_

 _ **This is a quick note to remind you to look at the dates of different events carefully, so you can understand the story better. Two or three events occurring at the same time might be read to know what affected a person in the time span. I hope you enjoy this story I always thought about, and pondered about sharing as an idea ^_^. Thank you,**_

 _Kazumi, or Kaz_

 **Abandoned Unidentified City, Japan, 11:00 P.M.**

A sigh escaped his open mouth as he stared on into his vicinity. Around him was a destructed city of demolished buildings and infested houses, with complete silence producing a rather odd ambiance. He brushed his black hair back as a soft breeze blew across his pale skin. Green eyes sharply glanced at every corner uncertainly, though gleaming an emotion of boredom as the boy loosened his grip on a long sword and walked around slowly. He was perched onto the top of a rather short building, watching over his surroundings for any sign of a vampire or any other danger that could be possibly lurking around the area. Suddenly the boy heard a thump and footsteps as his eyes widened and he turned around, aware of a presence.

"God, is it that how easily you're scared, Yuu?" A familiar voice rang out playfully. A girl with lavender hair and a quite sly smile was walking toward him.

"Ugh, Shinoa, you really underestimate me- even after I grew wings and became a superhero, hm?" Yuichiro Hyakuya, relieved to see only a friend, boasted.

"Dream on, friend, but you really expect a lot from me, even after I found out that you're a pretentious wannabe who can't even control himself, literally," Shinoa retorted with a quiet laugh.

Yuu blushed and mumbled "Ya got me there. Anyway, why are we here?" he asked with a bored expression planted on his face as he looked over at Shinoa.

"Like I haven't told you. We need a safe place to stay for a temporary moment, and so then, we need to double check for any idiotic monstrosities that could be going around this dump of a place," she explained. Yuu groaned at this.

"I get that, I have been, but out of all these places, why should we stay _here_?" he desperately questioned. Shinoa only looked over ahead of her, avoiding his childish stare. He shook his head and looked down. "Just... it's alright, tell me later."

They both stared on into the dark and quiet place for a while. Yuu decided to break the silence with another question. "Hey, don't you think it was funny how we all-"

Shinoa's eyes widened as she kicked a shocked Yuichiro harshly but quietly. "Shush! Do you hear that? Oh my god..."

Yuichiro was alarmed by this as he looked on ahead of him. His own eyes widened as he heard something. It couldn't be... There couldn't be... but what he was hearing was real. And it was disturbing.

 _A piercing_ _ **scream**_ _._

 **"DAMN IT!"**

The boy and girl exchanged expressions of horror at the sound as blades swung out and they took their positions. Yuu was in a mixture of feelings. There was a girl somehow... somehow alive. Alive in an abandoned city. It was surreal. This place held unrealistic conditions. Who could ever be so alive at this moment? By every thought, Yuu ran faster toward where the sound was coming from. He wanted answers.

It was an apartment building. Up in shape, but blanketed in mold and wiped out of color. Yards and yards were marked as Shinoa and Yuu leaped across numerous platforms.

Finally, they were here. The entrance of the building, consisting of two glass doors, was smashed, and an old picture frame lay across the shattered, remaining glass fragments outside the place. An old, bent sign dully identified the building as Avaron Inn on Amaya street.

 **10:51 P.M.**

She was quietly strolling back home to the apartment. A slash across her cheek bled as crimson rolled down her face like a tear. She wiped it away carelessly and continued on hurriedly. Her clothes were torn and stained with blood. Pain overwhelmed her but didn't defeat her awareness and priorities. She had to get home. Right away. Back to her family. Back to safety. She jogged as dark thoughts consumed her.

What those people threatened to do was wicked. Terrifying. Witches who dealt with dark sorcery and the full ability to deceive. Those same monsters whom were mentioned in her mother's stories- they found her scavenging for food and captured her, about to use her for a ritual. How ever coincidental was it that she was suspicious of a presence while picking at roses in the morning before she left?

She grabbed her phone out of her pocket swiftly and called her mom, covering her ear as much as possible to prevent making any noises that could signal she was around.

"Hello?" A frantic voice spoke out. The girl was relieved. "Thank god! Mom, I, I..."

"I know, I know, sweetie. I won't hang up on you. I promise."

She was at the verge of tears. She was scared. "Mom, we're not safe. Did you sense them?"

"No... don't tell me they're here. Did they-"

"Yes. They did. They saw me, mom. They took me and almost sacrificed me. I escaped it and now I'm on my way home. I'm sorry I couldn't call, it's just that I lost almost everything.." The girl explained in a panic. "I have to tell you something though- they threatened to send out a vampire to kill us all."

"Oh my god. This isn't good. Akira, this is not good at all. You need to get home now." The woman was shocked.

"I know, I'm hurrying, just please, tell the others, and Dad too. Protect them all and when I get there, I'll keep you all safe. Including Gina. She won't grow up as we did. I promise. I love you." She hung up and hurried along her way toward home. She needed to make sure her family wasn't going to be harmed. She would not let it happen. She _could_ not let it happen.

 **10:55 P.M**

Akira was almost home. She gripped onto her phone and dialed her mother again, about to alert her that she was getting there. That she was alright, and that she was going to be there soon.

But something left her in an air of incredulity.

It couldn't be.

No...

There was no answer.

Akira was shocked, agitation and perturbation consuming her, ever so irrepressible as she thought the worst almost involuntarily. She saw the apartment in the distance and ran toward it, being only feet away from the very entrance. When she arrived, shock automatically stunned her as the sight of shattered glass told her that someone came already.

She hurried through the foyer toward the main room. She repeatedly whispered "No..." to herself in pure denial as a trail of broken glass led the way to wherever this person, or rather her own family, was.

She finally got to the main room.

And she gasped in disbelief.

It had to be a nightmare. It _had_ to be a nightmare. A horrific "No!" escaped her trembling lips as she saw there, in the area, blood splattered and dripping from the walls to the floors. Crimson blanketed everything as bodies laid across the room. The body of her brother, her mother, and her father. Tears streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably.

Akira ran toward her newborn sister, Gina's crib in a state of panic, only to find that she even was a victim. She couldn't believe anything that was happening to her as her hand reached out to the bloody crib. It was horrible. It was a nightmare. It was surreal. She turned and attempted to shake her mother awake again, grabbing her and hugging her to herself, sobbing away at the dreadful reality that came to be.

Through that, she wept for what felt like hours, but was only minutes to come, until she heard footsteps. Her face, red and scratched, looked up only to see someone worse than the hell she felt she was being sent to. The murderer. The vampire sent by those witches. He was terrifying.

The monstrosity wore a wicked smile on his pale, messy face. Blood dripped from his mouth and was on his ripped, torn clothes. Messy black hair, shoulder length and soaked, lay over his shoulders. He was a monster. The worst monster. And he was about to kill her.

He was about to kill her.

She screamed.

 **11:05 P.M.**

"Keep to your position, Yuu!" Shinoa yelled as she ran inside with Yuichiro.

Yuu nodded as he continued through a large foyer in the apartment toward a main room. Suddenly though, he paused. He grabbed Shinoa's hand tightly to halt her from running, and quickly explained "We need a plan! Whatever's going on, it's inside that room over there! Reach the opposite end and attack from behind! I'll help. Sounds good?" He asked in assurance. He received a nod from Shinoa as they departed to prepare for the ambush.

He desperately sneaked through the doorway through the room to a large, covered corner inside. He heard violent remarks as he spied over and saw a girl attempting to fight a vampire... Around them were dead bodies... How did all of them not become livesto-

"DAMN YOU! LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS! YOU'LL PAY!" the girl was half crying, half yelling as she threw objects at the vampire, who dodged and ran toward her. He grabbed an object of his own- a rather large one- and smashed it against her head. She looked stunned, affected by the move and stumbled back toward the ground in horror. The vampire was cackling. He grabbed the leg of a table and knocked it to the ground as he took it and slowly walked toward the girl, who was terrified. He was about to stab her and kill her with the table leg. She screamed again, when-

Shinoa, wielding her scythe that was summoned as her Cursed Gear, threw the vampire to the wall with her weapon and stabbed him harshly. She yelled out to Yuu to come out and help the girl. And so he did. He ran from the corner toward the shocked kid, and grabbed her by the arm, holding her up. He took out his own sword and hugged her close to him, covering her with the blade to ensure that nobody took her away.

As the vampire fell to the floor, dead, silence returned to the setting. Shinoa breathed heavily after the mere job of killing the vampire as she stared on at the girl. She was sobbing in Yuu's arms uncontrollably.

 **Akira's POV**

Akira was sobbing in his arms uncontrollably. She attempted to regain her breath and looked up at the man who was protecting her. She became speechless.

He was beautiful. Every inch of him was beautiful. He had bright emerald eyes that were pure beyond depth. His hair lay gently over his soft, pale face as he looked into her own eyes in sadness. In admiration. She felt like she could drown in his gaze if she kept looking, and she couldn't bare to see him. She wept in his arms gloomily.

 **Yuu's POV**

She was beautiful. Her misty but strong eyes stared hopelessly into Yuu's as he felt heartbroken for her. Her soft but messy golden brown hair carelessly covered her face as she looked away from him and hugged him back, crying. Sadness overwhelmed Yuu. She was too beautiful. Too beautiful.

 **11:20 P.M.**

Kimizuki handled the site as Yuu still held on to the girl, silence consuming both him and Shinoa as Mitsuba decided on orders for Yoichi. She all of a sudden turned toward him and walked in his direction, yelling "Is that the girl?! Is she alive?"

Yuu nodded quietly, stunned. "Yeah, she- she passed out." He looked down at the unconscious girl. She was asleep against his chest, her face in pain and her skin cold.

Mitsuba sighed and muttered, "When this whole thing is sorted out and we fight that Kureto guy, as well as get Guren back, I'll keep her safe with the other protected former livestock in the Moon Demon Company."

Yuu looked up and frowned. "What?! She can't! I swear, I saw her fighting that vampire- without any weapon! And he got injured. Imagine how she is with a weapon if she was able to weaken him- at least even a bit."

Mitsuba glared at him in anger. "Ya think? She's not even awake right now, and she has just experienced her family's death! She wouldn't want to go through training after all of that!"

"Of course not! But sooner or later, don't you think she'd be worthy to stand up to those jerks? She was using self defense, and I believe if she's strong enough, she'll hold it as a benefit!" Yuichiro explained roughly.

"Tell me why you are so curious about her!" Mitsuba spat out at him.

"Don't you see? She and her whole family were not caught by the vampires! There's something we all need to know, and I'm dying to figure it out!" Yuichiro yelled.

"Hmph. Okay. Fine. There's gotta be an application for that company somewhere. But I swear to God, you better have another reason to help justify this case. Don't let me OR her down," Mitsuba warned Yuu as she walked away.

Yuu looked down at the sleeping girl. It was surely a rough decision to make, but he needed to know.

In 2012 the human race was nearly completely annihilated, with the Moon Demon Company holding an antidote in their member's hands, knowing ahead of time about such a mistake that these people made. When finding that children under or about the age of 13 were not affected or weakened by this mysterious virus, the vampires, whom have been around longer than the human race themselves, took the matter into their own hands, and in return for "saving children's lives," the children would be submitted into a livestock system controlled by the 3rd Progenitor, Krul Tepes. They had to lend the vampires their blood and survive together, or rather that- on their own. To find that there was a family of adults and children that were not submitted into the livestock system- or were not affected by the virus- was rather strange and left Yuu in an air of suspicion. Did these people have any knowledge whatsoever about the very day that the human race was going to be wiped out, or was there some specialty in their systems that resisted anything?

Immunizations were rather the only excuse, and a dismissal of the conversation would be requested almost involuntarily, as everyone concluded that the antidote was taken.

 **1:00 P.M.**

"A family of 5 had survived in an abandoned town and were not in the livestock system," he repeated thoroughly.

"Hmm. Document that for me, okay Yuu? We're gonna have some questioning tomorrow with this girl."


	2. Akira's Story

**"She woke up."**

 **9:00 P.M.**

She woke up. Her blurred vision and excruciating migraine dumbfounded her, leaving her in wonder as to how she even slept through that nigh-

...

Was it a nightmare?

Because- when she glanced around her vicinity, she saw 5 teenagers sitting on small couches staring over at her with concern. She gazed down at her shoes and winced at the pain that bombarded her forehead. Akira needed to know what was going on. Where was she? Who were these people that were ever so worried about her? Not a voice stood out as familiar as only two of the faces, one of them being a vivid memory that nevertheless stuck to her mind when she fell asleep. As before though, her eyes couldn't bear to look into his.

She then heard quick footsteps and an alarmed voice. "Oh! Well aren't you an early bird?" a short, petite figure with soft, lavender hair and a welcoming smile teased quietly. "Anyone who endured collateral damage that severe wouldn't be able to even open their eyes- not after that, of course," she explained, impressed at the simple action Akira had taken.

"..." Akira couldn't find any words to speak out in response. She was awfully curious of what had happened ever since she found her family dead, got saved by these people, and passed out. She was glad to know that there was someone breaking the silence that accentuated only the most awkward ambiance. She continued to stare at the girl, inaudible, mute.

The girl didn't find this strange, but mused, "I thought there was an ice pack or cloth somewhere. By the way, my name is Shinoa. Shinoa Hiiragi." She turned her back for a split second to grip onto a cold, cloaked and giant ice cube. She then turned back toward Akira and slowly strolled over to her. "Here. You need this. That bruise on your head has really gotten a hold of you." She softly laid the pack against Akira's bruise.

Akira closed her eyes as she felt the pack against her forehead. The cool touch was indeed soothing, but left her in an uncanny feeling that shook her insides. She didn't react to it externally though. She just sat there, her amber eyes staring out into the distance, evincing dull and mundane emotion.

"It must have been horrible, what you went through.." Shinoa mumbled softly. Akira suddenly remembered. She finally found her voice.

"N-Nobody followed us, r-right?" She stuttered and turned her head to a window behind her, terrified. Shinoa only shook her head and said "You're safe. We have weapons that are- powerful."

"But those peo-" She was interrupted.

"We know about those creatures. Besides, vampires aren't the only supernatural creatures practiced by spellcraft, unfortunately. We have way more abilities than you think. You'll learn," Shinoa nodded with certainty. "You're safe with us."

Akira slowly nodded.

"So, we are going to ask you some questions that are essential to us, if you don't mind," Shinoa explained quietly.

The girl turned pale in response to that action. "I-"

"Yes... I know. You do mind. I mind too, no secret. We all felt the pain of having to relive those horrible things. But this is extremely crucial to our survival against the vampires and more. We ourselves have known the vampires for a long time. Before mankind was diminished. Even before those same jerks decided to gather children up and call them their livestock," Shinoa explained.

"We've fought the vampires for years now, under the Vampire Extermination Unit; a rather valuable branch of the Moon Demon Company. However, we decided to run and take our own route after Guren Ichinose got possessed and Kureto Hiiragi hosted a sacrificial party in the middle of a damn _battle_. Let's not get into that anyway," A girl with pure blonde hair cracked in with a mutter.

"Well- yeah, anyway, that's our story, and how we ended up here. Honestly, I'm glad I chose this place out. Saving you wasn't originally for the purpose of information. We cared about you, Akira," Shinoa softly declared.

Akira's eyes widened in surprise. "How do you know my na-?"

"I had to take some of your blood for identification," Shinoa interrupted quickly. "No worries, I am honest to God that I don't know an actual fact about you and your life. So, that is what brings me to this list of questions I need to ask you. Take your time, we are all here for you and we do _not_ intend to surround you with misery," Shinoa explained calmly.

"Yeah. If you're feeling horrible about it, don't hide it from us. You'll only feel worse," A teenager with messy pink hair and black-framed glasses agreed in a low voice as he sat toward the edge of his seat.

"How did you and your family live without being caught and gathered as livestock?" The blonde girl immediately blurted out.

Everyone went silent.

Akira could feel what felt like a thousand eyes staring straight into hers- even if she suddenly grew an interest in her dirty sneakers instead of 5 pairs of dilated pupils.

She was honestly confounded as hell by the realization that all this time she forgot what she and her family were running for. Every day was mundane, forever a nightmare of disturbing sights that seemed to leave constant scars in Akira's heart. Bodies of dying children and corpses of untreated adults were always observed and by then, though this didn't influence her much and still broke her heart, she truthfully wasn't surprised by the very fact that such people were there.

All the routinely scavenging and some painful hunger made her forget how she even ended up like this.

Something seemed to keep nagging at her dazed mind, though. How did those bodies even end up like that? Who came and killed those children if they weren't affected by the virus? Who again?

It was them. The vampires. Was Akira that wrecked and stupid?

It was all coming back to her slowly.

She remembered the sharp pain that was of two fangs sinking into her soft skin.

And she also remembered the relief of punching that dimwit in the face.

Did she forget that she was supposed to be speaking right now?

Akira broke the silence. "I... My family and I were livestock, b-but we es-escaped..." she stuttered.

Shinoa was rather suspicious of this fact. "How did you?" She questioned Akira curiously.

"I hit him while he fed and we all ran," Akira quietly explained.

"Hm. I have just one more question for you. Was your family of a supernatural descent?" Shinoa asked, concerned.

Soft-going interrogation was starting to become worse than being beat up to say a word.

"Y-yes..." Akira quietly answered. Shinoa nodded.

"Okay, what abilities did they possess? What were they?" She simply asked her.

"Sorcerers. Witches." A clear reply sharply came about.

"Why was your family slaughtered? What did your enemies intend?" Shinoa slowly queried Akira.

"M-my mother was one of the sorcerers that practiced a certain spell craft for a project- then she met my father and left those people. But she... she was one of the main bloodlines required to fulfill the desires of the spell as personified. I, I don't know anything else other than what she did was right. It was a bad project and that's why we ran," Akira held back tears while explaining the situation.

Shinoa nodded. "Okay, I guess we're gonna have to solve this out for you, okay? Sounds good?" Shinoa confirmed kindly with Akira before proceeding to heal her bruise once more.

Akira didn't say anything. She was containing her emotions at this point.

Because what they did was certainly evil.

Those people changed her life.

"I think it's about time we hold an introduction. Of course you know me, but for at least a little while you're gonna get to know all of us as a friend." Shinoa nodded to the first of the group.

"My name is Mitsuba," the blonde loudly announced with a kind smile upon her light face.

"H-hi, my name's Yoichi," A short, timid boy with messy brown hair shyly blurted with a nervous grin.

The pink-haired teenager had grinned just as confidently as the boy, and mumbled respectfully, "I'm Kimizuki."

Akira's eyes were blurred as she realized there was one more person who didn't yet introduce himself.

Right across from her, those same green eyes softly stared into her own, with only the faintest of smiles.

"Yuu. My name's Yuu."

Akira felt a warm feeling throughout her whole self. A welcoming feeling. For the first time... there were actually people... people that were alive... and didn't want to kill her.

She felt happy. Though not entirely, the feeling of safety and sureness laid in her heart as she settled down, still staring at Yuu, her expression showing full admiration and wonder for him. She didn't smile, but her cheeks blushed awkwardly. She was quiet.

Shinoa was now holding a cup of warm tea over to Akira, and tenderly beamed. "You are truly an extraordinary girl, Akira. It is the nicest thing to meet you."

Akira blinked at the cup that was being offered to her. She wanted to hold back from any newer emotion, but a wave of contentment left her to do something she didn't know she would do.

The corners of her mouth lifted ever so slightly as a noticeable tear rolled down her colorful face. "You too..."

" _You too."'_

 **10:11 P.M.**

Her crimson eyes gradually opened to observe their surroundings.

"What the hell?" she breathed harshly as she found that she was restrained by long chains around her ankles and wrists. She then heard a familiar but unpleasant voice ring her pointed ears once again.

"Oh, if it isn't my queen, awoken from that terrible ordeal," The mature voice of Lord Ferid sang out happily. "My dearest apologies for what I had to do."

"You had better let me go right no-" She coughed violently, spurting out blood.

"Tsk Tsk... That Verlane has gotten to you, hasn't it?" Ferid calmly mused, taking out a syringe full of the special fluid that burned any vampire, and also blinded a human from mind control. "Goodness Krul, you are always certain to step yourself up after you fall."

He suddenly sped over face-to-face with the third progenitor, shaking his head and grinning evilly. He kicked her in the stomach three times with such force that left her speechless. He then grabbed her neck and pushed her back up on her feet, choking her. "What a rebel to your own kind, my dear. Who would have ever thought their own ruler was to betray them in a moment such as this?" Ferid let her go and punched her roughly, with enough power to break her tooth and damage her nose.

Her chains broke off at this point, and by then, the queen was free from _those_ matters.

"Ugh... What game are you playing, Ferid?" Krul Tepes gasped angrily and slowly stood up, with her pink hair swaying to the speed of her actions. Blood was spilled over the floors of the cell. Black spots overwhelmed her vision as she attempted to keep herself up on her own weight.

"I am playing this game. Of war."

Another punch to her face, and she was left unconscious in her cell.


	3. The First Attempt

_"He's the Seraph of the End. We must not... We cannot.. HE MUST DIE!"_

 **3:00 P.M.**

Yuichiro leaped forward in his bed, with sweat dripping from his forehead to his cheek like a tear. He was gasping for cold air as the back of his neck strained and he turned pale.

His bedroom was dark and silent, but he could see a small, thin light from between his slightly opened door and the dirty walls. Was this another dream? Did he automatically jump into another vision? He heard a slow but sure creak as the door gradually opened to reveal...

"Mika?" Yuu relaxed himself at the sight of the quiet blonde, who playfully sneaked in and held a softly lit lantern.

A smirk was laid calmly on his half-concerned, half-amused face. "Another nightmare, Yuu? Hm, I wonder..." He whispered thoughtfully. "So... what did I miss?"

"Kind of a lot, to be honest with ya," Yuichiro confessed. He wasn't fully confident of whether Mika had grown to carry a good reputation of Mistuba, Shinoa, Kimizuki and Yoichi, but he sure saw a difference on how he treated them- wholeheartedly, optimistically, and strongly- just like he used to act.

"Well- can you tell me _what_ I missed?" Mika asked Yuu curiously, hovering over in question.

"I was going to tell you about that anyway. Well, the other day, we had saved a girl in this weird, abandoned town. She was running from someone. Okay, maybe a lot of people. But she wasn't in the livestock, we all saw that," Yuichiro mused.

Mika stared at him, puzzled. He was dumbfounded at the thought of someone still being alive, Yuu supposed. Everyone was startled about that, for they had restlessly conversed for hours and hours, until the girls brushed every strand of their hair clean and the boys had grown their open eyes weary. "A girl? Alive? I- I mean, is she still alive?" he asked Yuu softly.

"Yes. Very much alive," Yuu nodded his head with certainty.

"Tell me. What else did you find out?" Mika questioned him eagerly.

Yuu was going to take a long time to tell this one.

 **3:20 P.M.**

 _"And who is that little girl behind you, Nevena Nikolina Okamoto? Your daughter?"_

 _She came closer, so much closer the heat of her wicked breath rode through the cold wind and slashed her face with every word. "So beautiful, it's such a shame she'll die..."_

 _Akira held on tighter, tighter and tighter- she backed away yet managed to keep hold of her mother's hands. Her overalls were dirty- she tripped so many times while playing, and then tripped even more when she saw them._

 _Them._

 _"Jarqueli de eur lorenne, Davina. Jarqueli de eur lorenne, qui diette," Akira's mother threatened through chattered teeth._

 _The caster shook her head and smiled. Then laughed. Then drew her hand out._

 _Akira was pushed back so hard she fell, astounded. Her mother drew up her own hand in full awareness. She turned her head toward Akira and yelled, "Run!"_

 _But Akira didn't. The next thing she knew, words and letters she didn't even know were thrown at each other. "Mommy? Mommy!"_

"MOTHER!" She woke up screaming in horror. She realized as she stared around her dark room that it was just a dream. A vision. A nightmare. She had to take a few seconds to recover from the sweat and the tears that dripped down her face like she had just ran a marathon.

Her stomach growled after days and days of absolutely no food. Her thirst was a person itself, a feeling so strong it almost burst out of her own mouth, or felt like it was going to.

She turned her head to see a bowl of oatmeal and granola still sitting at her side, given to her that first day but denied quietly behind Mitsuba's back. Now was the time to enjoy what she had in front of her. Akira desperately but quietly grabbed the bowl of oatmeal and the bag of granola bits and chowed every bit of it down, attempting to forget the nightmare she endured just then. She couldn't let the darkness consume her, yet it was lingering and lingering on, harshly reminding her of everything she went through.

Maybe her hunger before had just caused it all to come back to her. Maybe this was just some form of starvation, a pit so deep you would need every element to fulfill its constant desire but... it couldn't have just been that. It wasn't only a nightmare that visited her- it was also a memory. It was such a significant memory in her twisted life, that memory. However, like Akira repeated to herself, she couldn't let her feelings and everything else consume her.

Not even the hardships of love.

Love. Family. It all took her back to those green eyes but her personality wouldn't ever do to make friends with someone who looked as alive as Yuichiro Hyakuya- as strong and revered as he was. Akira couldn't help but think it all over again. He looked so kind. He sounded so kind, and considering the fact that he and Shinoa saved her life- he was indeed nice. Akira halted when she heard a small knock on her door, and quickly laid down her bowl on her table, jumping into bed quietly and covering her whole body, alarmed.

It was only Yoichi though, thoughtfully asking Akira "Are you okay? I heard you screaming. It's only me."

As soon as she nervously replied, shaking under her covers, "Yes," and Yoichi walked away while closing the door, she slowly got up and about from her position and finished her meal. This was going to be a maze of wonders, this new life and these new people, a maze of wonders indeed.

 **7:00** **P.M.**

Morning came. Morning came with its light and apricot tint touching old walls. Akira opened her eyes slowly to embrace the new day. As refreshing as this new day was though, it also brought back her priorities. That's what she hated about the morning. Memories slowly crept back up to you when you awoken and that's what would define your morning. Realization.

Akira hated that part but she had to face it. She had to see to it or she would forever sleep with the memories that were never justified. 'Who would want to sleep with death never being brought to peace,' Akira wondered. She stared at the closed door, her haze gone but her eyes stuck onto the blank color of it. What was she going to do now? There was nothing left for her in this world to fight for or live for.

By then, why again would these people drag her back instead of kill her right on the spot? Did they know of the big project studied by those who wanted to learn different types of spells and magic? It disturbed her though how quickly they knew about what they were going to do in the beginning. Could Akira trust them? They seemed so caring, and for the first time she felt welcomed and accepted, loved by those she didn't know. Was that all a play though? She had to find out. For the meantime, she had to know more about them and keep a close watch on her own self from now on, being alone and without a family.

Akira gradually uncovered her legs and silently left her bed, as she walked over to the door and quietly opened it.

She peered over at the empty hall that was blanketed by the familiar apricot colors. She heard voices, and the strong aroma of a warm breakfast arose and brought Akira to her attention. She was hungry, and she needed to get food. That's what would start her day. Yes, food and just food, then she could maybe explain more to those people about everything, and know more about everything they had to offer.

She strolled silently but quickly over to the dining room's safe door and took a deep breath. What in the world was she aiming for? This was pathetic. Food? 'You are a scavenger, Akira,' she thought to herself. 'You can survive days and days on that oatmeal and you know it, greedy scum.' Now she was going to turn away from the door and walk right back to her room but it all stopped her.

She was doing this to obtain information and if she didn't succeed in doing so, what was the purpose of life? To hand a bore? It couldn't be, not after all these years. Besides, if she could really even trust these people, would this be what they wanted for her? She wouldn't think so. This wasn't being greedy.

Akira took one last deep, quiet breath and quietly opened the door. There, in the abandoned room were old chairs, and she heard voices belonging to Mitsuba and Shinoa. She was aware that there was an awkward silence emerging in her presence. Everybody turned and was surprised to see Akira there, which bothered her. She never liked when people stared at her. She always thought there was something wrong with her when they did. The only thing saving her this time was the fact that afterward they all smiled kindly and silently, and Shinoa welcomed her to a seat right in the middle of Yoichi and Mitsuba.

She nodded her head and walked over, then pushed back the chair, which didn't squeak or rub (to her surprise). She sat down only to hear into what these people were saying and apparently though, that purpose was going to have to wait a while. No one was speaking when she was there, and she just regretted her choices as they all paid strange attention to their breakfast and continued to eat it. Akira just joined in and proceeded to enjoying her meal.

'What a move, Akira,' she thought to herself. 'Today's your first attempt though. It's gonna take a lot more than your guts to engage in anything. Yet.'

 **7:50 A.M.**

"What a move, Krul," Lord Ferid rang out happily to the awoken Krul Tepes. "All these projects and spell casters practicing for what purpose? Elimination? I am starting to consider the fact that the world wasn't going to be wiped out by just a virus, my queen."

Krul growled. Her wrists were tightly strained by ropes soaked in verlane. "I'll kill you with every ounce of my power, Ferid."

"And just how is that going to save you? I will already have told them everything I know about you and your deeds by then. Killing me is just going to satisfy your anger," Ferid playfully exclaimed. "The third progenitor will be long gone once they have learned of this. Now, I am leading your army of vampires. They know of your betrayal."

Krul's eyes widened in anger. "Y-you... YOU LITTLE-"

She was interrupted by a hard blow to the face by Ferid. She coughed out blood and felt the violent sting of the verlane dripping onto her skin from the ropes. At this point she was too weak to use her power against the serum. It was extremely poisonous to vampires, and was used in the antidote that saved those serving in the Imperial Demon Army from dying because of the virus. Of course it would weaken even the most deadliest creature that was of her own kind.

Ferid smirked and closed his eyes, shaking his head at the screeches. "My queen, what a shame. It will most certainly be a painful end awaiting you."

"As for you, idiot," Krul choked out through her screams of pain.

Ferid walked backwards, enjoying the sight of her misery as he shut the door of the cell behind him and sang evilly, "What a shame..."


	4. Dove of Heaven, Take me away

_Devil's child._

 _Our son._

 _Must Kill._

 _Seraph._

 _End._

 **7:00 A.M.**

"Are the test subjects prepared, Aoi?" The cruel voice of Kureto Hiiragi bellowed across the gigantic room that separated him from a blonde girl with an expressionless face.

"Yes, sir, all the test subjects are prepared and the machines are set to a moderate amount of energy and radiation, as well as decent temperatures- enough to affect anything in its path," The girl replied in a harsh, icy voice.

"Is it set to its highest rate?" Kureto questioned her, tapping his fingers along his wooden desk.

"No sir. If the machines are set to their highest temperatures, then there is a high risk of death for the test subjects targeted. If the radiation damages too many cells in the subject's body they can easily be killed. I'm afraid it is too deadly, sir," Aoi explained thoroughly.

"I want it at its most powerful effects, Aoi," Kureto demanded with a hint of evil in his voice. His face was dark and secretive. "It doesn't matter to me. _They_ never mattered to me. They are useless, and serve no purpose to the Imperial Demon Army."

"If I may ask, sir, why then did you choose these subjects to be experimented on, if they are of no use?" Aoi found the courage to ask.

"You never let me finish my explanation." Kureto chuckled quietly. He stared deeply into Aoi's eyes, as if he saw through her. He then meanly went on, "After the radiation, their bodies, functioning or not, can become vulnerable to possession or different sources of power. Their empty shells will certainly do good to this army of ours."

Aoi's face turned as pale as her clean gloves. "But sir-"

"Enough questions, Aoi. I am starting to think that you want to turn against me, and if that is the case, then I will unfortunately have to place you into the experimentation branch as well," Kureto threatened his assistant.

"N-no sir, y-your wish is only my co... my command, sir," Aoi stuttered, attempting to regain her confidence. "I will order the branch to charge their machines for the highest mode we can obtain."

"Good, good," Kureto smiled. "We have been through this before, you and I. Do not disappoint me again, Aoi."

Aoi nodded, and following a loud "Sir," she immediately exited the room for the branch.

"So ordering Barbie around the place is your specialty, Kureto?" the playful, rough voice of Guren Ichinose shouted out to get the man's attention.

"Ugh, Guren. You just do not know what I have planned," Kureto sighed as he turned to stare into red eyes that were once purple.

Guren laughed. "Just kidding," he said as he walked from the dark corner across the room toward Kureto. "You're not fun anyway."

"Your foolishness was not cleansed by your possession, it seems," Kureto rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You underestimated me from the beginning, idiot."

"Oh Kureto, don't talk like that. Why so serious anywa-" Guren was interrupted by a flash of lightning that threw him toward the wall and blinded him.

"Ouch," he gasped as he stood back up. "You told me to come here, by the way. What are your plans?" He asked Kureto curiously while brushing the dust off his pants.

"Shinoa's squad. You know who," Kureto directly told Guren.

"Er, who again?" Guren smirked and asked Kureto.

"All of them, and if anyone, Yuichiro Hyakuya," Kureto answered in a tough manner. "We are going to search for them, and move our units if we have to."

"Sounds like a good plan," Guren smiled to himself, reminiscing Yuu's attempt to save him from possession.

Kureto smiled along, too.

Beside him was a document with a map printed onto it.

The location was detected as Avaron Creek.

A destroyed gated community.

"You'd best be on my side, Guren. Qui diette."

 **1:00 P.M.**

Train. Fight. Kill. Obtain.

Yuu was caught up in so many priorities, he couldn't even count how many things he had to do today. It was hard to contain his feelings, but at least he would get to speak to Akira later on and learn more about her personality than her background. He continued on and said goodbye to Mika, who was once again out to investigate the mysterious, abandoned town.

"You sure you're gonna be okay?" Yuu asked Mika.

"I'm gonna be fine, don't worry," he replied, smiling at Yuu and patting him on the back. "Family, right? I'll come back and tell you anything I need to."

Yuu had the feeling Mika was a little secretive. "You will, right?"

Mika nodded and turned back toward his weapon, which was laying on the grass. "Yeah."

Yuu still felt suspicious. He grasped Mika's weapon before he could grab it and asked, "I need to be certain. Can. I. Trust. You?"

Mika was taken aback by this. "Yes, Yuu! We're best friends, right? Of course I wouldn't, spy on me all you like!" He attempted to pull the weapon out of Yuu's hands but failed. He coldly stared at Yuu.

Yuu just ricocheted the gaze right back at him.

"Fine. I never told you but it's gonna be a dangerous one, Yuu," Mika admitted to Yuu. "There are monsters in this dump."

With that, he snatched the weapon back and walked away.

Yuu was surprised. The group had told him that Mika was going to look over the area and search for remnants of things that would give them a hint of any danger awaiting them. He was never informed of the fact that there _were_ dangers awaiting him and that Mika had to go fend them off.

He sighed. The less he knew about this place, the more hopeless he felt. It just wasn't going to cut it this time. This was not a good place for the squad to go play hide and go seek in.

He heard a voice that took him out of his thoughts. A calm, quiet but audible voice. It was talking to the voice of Shinoa, whose voice was girly, cunning and twice as calm.

"Tell me more! We all need to know about this place."

"Yeah, apparently I don't have a clue. I've been hiding, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Sucks. Anything you do know?"

"A lot of stuff is scattered around the place. I dunno if it would help to know that, but being a scavenger, I've collected a lot of things from the center of the town. The forum. There are items I've never touched, they are suspicious. If anything, start your search there."

"Okie dokie. The center of town it is. Thanks for that, Akira."

"No problem, I guess..."

 **1:30 P.M.**

Akira was glad Shinoa had ended that.

She was failing miserably while trying to figure out anything about these people, yet they were so jumpy and good it didn't seem much of a priority. Rather so, they seemed less of a threat by the day.

Akira was annoyed by her failure and was so lost in thought that while she walked back to her room, she bumped into Yuu. Literally. Right on, and it hurt.

"Sorry," Yuu said, sounding troubled while rubbing his head and wincing.

Akira was doing the exact same. "N-no, just lost in thought. I'm sorry."

Yuu blinked at this. "Nah, you're fine."

Akira blushed. She became so rough she thought her head had become glass or something, and here she was, being all clumsy enough to hurt others.

Wait. This was the perfect time. Maybe _he_ could tell her about the group.

"Yuu?" She asked him softly.

"Hm?" He looked at her.

"Do you have any time to tell me about the group? Shinoa's always asking me about a family I don't have anymore..." She explained.

"I don't have anything to do all day," Yuu admitted awkwardly, sitting beside Akira on a bench outside. "Sure."

Akira had to start off with this one. "What abilities do you guys have?"

Yuu was buffering. Akira felt like she had just taken the wrong turn.

"Um, nothing... nothing special. We're just... really good at wielding weapons."

It seemed secretive enough but Akira's glass head softened a little. "Mkay. Anybody I haven't met?"

Yuu nodded. "Mikaela Hyakuya. He's a vampire."

Akira's eyes widened. "What?"

"He's not evil! He's my family. He's my best friend. Love him like a brother," Yuu said, smirking at Akira, who blushed twenty shades darker than before when he did.

"Oh... Okay then. Why is he a vampire?" Akira asked Yuu.

"He and I took care of our family in the orphanage. When the virus came, we tried to escape after a while. When we almost got to our freedom, A noble named Lord Ferid, he... he killed my whole family. And Mika. The third progenitor turned him," Yuu said, remembering the awful day.

"Oh my god. That's horrible," Akira said as she relaxed herself and believed the story Yuu had told her.

Akira looked up at Yuu in curiosity. She regretted doing so when he stared right back at her. It was as if he could see right through her again. Was it always going to be like this?

What broke them apart was Shinoa once more. "You guys get your gloves on. Akira, you will come with me to direct me to the forum.

"Yes, m'am." Akira was feeling up for this now. She pulled some of her hair behind her left ear and stood up in a manly fashion. She heard Yuu laughing to himself, but she couldn't help it. Empowering, was it, to stand and be prepared. She was going to take the mission, and she was going to take the order.

"The others are ready, Idiot Yuu. Be ready." With that, Shinoa strolled off toward the inside of the building.

Akira grinned at Yuu before turning around and following the same path.

 **Meanwhile...**

Mika trudged through the empty roads that were once walked upon. All of this left Mika in an air of wonder. Ahead of him was a world of silence and destruction. There couldn't have been anything or anyone existing in a town such as this, out of all the places.

Then he heard a noise.

He brought his flashlight to the direction of the source making the noise. It was absolutely terrifying, the noise. It was a screech. A low, hoarse but sure screech that seemed to be coming from a tall, abandoned building.

Mika jogged quietly toward the entrance, curious but glad to know the group wasn't wrong where they stood. He saw something though that brought him to his attention.

There was broken glass all over the entrance, and the windows were shattered intensely. Something came here, and if it had to enter the building in such a rough way, that meant another presence was against it and attempting to defy it.

'Interesting,' Mika thought to himself as he stepped upon the shattered glass.

Laying there, on the cold, hard ground was a picture frame. He bent and picked it up, brushing the dust off of the frame. There was a picture within it. A photo of a woman with golden brown hair and a bold smile gazed back at him.

Beside her was a teenage boy with rough, brown hair that was swept back. He was grinning widely, like he had just played a prank on someone.

Behind him was a tall man, whose wrinkled face beamed happily under his neatly brushed, platinum blonde hair.

Just there, with her arm around the tall man was a young teenager with the same, soft golden brown hair as her mother. Her light, hazel eyes stared elegantly at Mika. Her plush, red lips opened into the happiest smile out of everyone's in the picture.

Mika was mesmerized by this discovery. She was so mysterious, that girl. Why did she seem so familiar?

He heard the screech again. Mika stood up and took the picture with him into the building.

It was silent and eerie. 'Too silent,' Mika thought to himself once more as he waved his flashlight across the empty room. Then he heard a voice. A whisper.

He slashed his weapon through his belt and held it, ready for what was to come.

Nothing came though.

He heard the whisper again.

 _"You can't fight them..."_

 _"You can't kill them..."_

 _"You will pay..."_

 _"Will... pay..."_

 _"Them..."_

Mika was shocked by a light that shined upon him. He glared through it to see another light also shined upon a wooden tape recorder. 'What the hell,' Mika thought to himself.

He walked up to the tape recorder. There, beside it, was a tape that Mika grabbed and placed into the recorder. It automatically played, causing Mika to jump a little as he heard it.

 _"Lorenzo, Lorenzo darling!"_

 _"What's wrong, dear? I'm getting home soon."_

 _"They're coming, Lorenzo! They're coming for us!"_

Mika couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was disturbing... haunting...

 _"Them? The children, Nevena! Do you have them with you? Zach, Gina, Akira?"_

Akira.. Why did that name seem so familiar to Mika?

 _"I am so, so sorry Lorenzo... Akira was the one who informed me of this, she's getting home. The children... The others... Lorenzo..."_ The woman was choking up, crying.

 _"They will make it, Nevena, you hear me? They will make it!"_

 _"No, Lorenzo, they will not. They..."_ The woman broke down.

 _"No... No... This can't be! Don't worry, I am getting there! I'm at the door!"_

 _"NO! You just do not understand, Lorenzo! Only one of us is going to survive, and I already know who it is."_

 _"Who?! Who, Nevena?"_

 _"Akira."_

 _"Only Akira?"_

 _"Yes."_

Mika's eyes widened.

 _"She will make it, Lorenzo. Only her. She cannot be sacrificed. It will end the world as we know it. They will end the world as we know it."_

 _"Will he kill the children? Will he really?"_

 _"Y-yes, Lorenzo!"_ The woman was screaming through the phone now.

 _"No... It can't be over... We're going to die... We're going to leave her behind!"_

 _"No, Lorenzo."_ She was calmer.

 _"Will she be okay?"_

 _"Yes, she will. I know it. They will take care of her."_

 _"Who?"_

 _"She will know in time's arrival."_

 _"Nevena..."_

 _"She's our daughter, Lorenzo. I love her."_

 _"I love her too."_

 _"I love you."_

 _"I love you too. I have one more favor to ask of you."_

 _"And what is that?"_

 _"Open the door for me to heaven, will you? All of you?"_

A sorrowful laugh, then a breakdown. _"We.. We await you in the main room."_

The tape ended there. Mika was in complete awe after everything he heard. He grabbed the recorder with the tape and ran out of the building, dropping the flashlight and heading back for the route that lead to Avaron Creek.

Along the way, he gripped onto the picture frame that held a photo of A woman with golden hair, a teenage boy with a cunning smile, a tall man with a wide beam, and a girl with the happiest smile.

He heard more whispers as he left.

 _Devil's child._

 _Our son._

 _Must kill._

 _Seraph._

 _End._

 **2:40 P.M.**

He poured some wine into his glass as he looked up, a grin forming on his beaten, bruised face.

"She'd be a gal o' danger, that one. Scavenger, she is. Been running for years from them little casters. Mama used to be one o' the bloodlines needed, but she woke from that old trance, an' now, her li'l girl be with lost boys and gals. A squad. someone by the name of Shinoa'd be owning that group. I reckon no matter what, Akira Okamoto ain't in full safety.

"But beware. She'd be feisty. You don't know of her powers, not even she do. Whatever you do, never be underestimating her. She one of them. She one of the casters. But she also one of the rebels. With members of the Imperial Demon Army.

"We ain't the only ones in the world that be surviving on that antidote, ain't we now?"


	5. Was It the Blue Night, Gone Fragile

"Aoi! Aoi!"

"Ayame, we mustn't be heard by Kureto. I am so sorry, Ayame... I didn't want this for your son. I love him."

"I know... It's all his fault, dear. Not yours."

"Please escape while you still can, Ayame. You're like a mother to me."

"A daughter to me you are, but I can't... they're waiting for me."

"Who's waiting for you?"

"Those people.."

"What people, Ayame? This must have been some type of hallucination. Did you forget your medicatio-"

"No, no. You just don't understand, Aoi. I had a dream. A vision."

"Tell me then, while we still have time."

"Oh, Aoi... You wouldn't believe what I saw... It was a snowy day.. I was calling out to John, and then ahead of me, I saw a group of people... A group of children... They were all dressed in these livestock clothes of some sort... staring at me from a distance. The adults, the people.. they carried expressions so bland.

"Their skin was dark, but light... their presences were questioned, but familiar... then the group of children... they all ran over to me, and asked me where Ayame was. I told them my name was Ayame. They looked surprised at first, but they then smiled... they tried and tried to take me to where they were standing, but I refused. I shooed them away. I was looking for John still."She started crying. "I was calling out his name so loud."

Aoi wiped away a tear as she thought about the strange dream. John... she loved him, and he was about to be killed. in the experimentation branch. By her words. Ayame was slowly withering of sickness.

"But then I saw you. You were farthest away from me, to a wooded area. a speck on the hills. You were doing the same thing I was. Searching for him. Your cry for him was so that it echoed, on and on through the area. Oh, Aoi..."

Aoi was holding back millions of tears now. "No, Ayame, you can't be ready. Not yet! You aren't ready! I... I'm not ready!" she whispered.

Ayame only gazed upon Aoi with a stare that nobody else could've touched her so deeply with. Her thin, rough lips curved into a hopeless smile. "Yes, you are."

"But before I go, I must remind you of this. Never, ever side with Kureto Hiiragi."

At this, Aoi's time was up and she left the hospital room, her face red.

Never.

 **3:00 P.M.**

"This is the forum," Akira shyly announced as the group trudged along muddy waters and dirty grass. Flashlights illuminated the always dark path as they continued on, searching for anything that could be useful to them.

"Even then, I kinda think this place was always dark. Even from the start," Kimizuki mused, shining his flashlight over a poster that held dim, grey colors.

"Actually, this place used to be very alive..." Akira quietly said, reminiscing the once bright and cheery town.

"Are you sure this place is, well... safe, Shinoa?" Yoichi questioned the lavender haired girl, who was smiling and walking off into La-la land.

"It's perfect, this place. Love it," she happily exclaimed, ignoring Yoichi's request for an assurance.

Akira stared at her through the hood of her sweater with a confused face. 'If only she saw the real town,' she thought to herself.

"Hey, Akira," Yuu said, sounding very alarmed.

Akira blushed. Yuichiro easily brought her to his attention with just a couple of words. "Y-yeah?" she answered.

He switched his lane and came right next to her. "I saw this on my way out. Is it yours?" He asked her with an innocent look on his face, holding a necklace with a sapphire up to her sight.

'Oh my god,' Akira thought, having the strong urge to face palm. "Oh, yeah." She silently took the necklace from him and immediately clipped it onto her as they once again continued along. It was good that she wore her hood up. It always hid her emotions.

It felt different, walking right next to someone that saved your life. You would always try to act your best in front of her or him. Why didn't she carry this vibe with Shinoa, who killed the vampire with a scythe while Yuu grabbed her?

Kimizuki then brushed up behind Akira and Yuu and ruffled their hair playfully. He obviously wanted attention, and he got it.

"HEY!" Yuu yelled at Kimizuki, who then cut him in line and was soon right next to Akira.

"Ha, see? I get to stand next to the woman who has the guts of a soldier, and you don't," he shouted.

Akira's eyes widened. She was really thankful for her hood now, as her face turned red. Sometimes the kid never wanted to be noticed anyway, yet here she was, next to her new brother, being talked about.

"Hmph, really?" Yuu teased, walking up to Akira's other side. "What do you have to say about that, Akira?"

"You probably think I'm stronger, huh," Kimizuki raved about himself.

Akira shook her head and gave out a noticeable grin. "You're pretentious, brother," she loudly mused.

Yuu smiled cunningly. "Ha, see, I'm awesome!"

Akira shot a gaze right at him, finally gaining the confidence to retort with a "You too."

Yuichiro was shocked as Kimizuki laughed his head off. "Guess I'm not alone."

Mitsuba was busy conversing with Shinoa when she overheard. "You boys better be good, I hear you."

Shinoa giggled. "We wouldn't want to judge quickly, right boys? Akira, who do you think is the bravest one in the group?"

Akira looked around her, thinking.

She smiled and pointed at Yoichi. "He is."

Yoichi's head was a strawberry as he quietly mumbled "Er, thanks."

Kimizuki only shrugged and murmured, "Yoichi is a pineapple compared to us."

At this, Yoichi shouted "Aww, come on!" as everybody snickered.

Mitsuba then paused dead in her tracks. "Guys..." She bent down to examine something.

"What?" Yuu asked, concerned. He strolled over behind her and peered from behind her shoulders. Everybody followed along to observe.

There, on the cold ground, was a piece of paper. A piece of paper so clean, white and fresh it seemed unlikely that it was left there for years. Mitsuba gradually reached her hand out to the sheet, and grabbed it. Placing it closer to her, she specifically searched for any suspicious entry in the paper, but there was absolutely nothing to find.

"Magnifying glass, please," Mitsuba requested as she still attempted to see if anything was in the paper.

"Not your servant, princess," Kimizuki mumbled to himself as he passed the magnifying glass over to Mitsuba.

She growled, annoyed. When given the magnifying glass, she focused on a tiny speck that was in the smack middle of the sheet.

"What the hell is this," she whispered to herself as she gazed with all her might upon the glass. There were two stanzas of a poem she could make out. She read it.

 _The scavenger with blood of sacred youth_

 _of lower grounds and a human tooth_

 _shall cleanse the world of horrid bands_

 _by spilling blood on its master's hands_

 _x*x*x*x*x_

 _And by then we seek_

 _for the one still alive_

 _the one who still runs_

 _with allies to survive_

 _and upon its prey_

 _it does not thrive_

 _but will spill blood upon its master's hands._

Mitsuba was confused. In front of her was a poem that told of a craving for bloodshed onto a scavenger that was still alive. She was absolutely speechless as she looked on only to find a final stanza...

 _A cleansing of the world shall be renamed_

 _never abandoned by righteous strain_

 _for blood of Okamoto strength_

 _fulfills the ritual of Qau Elainth._

 _Blood will spill upon its master's hands._

"Akira? What's your last name?" Mitsuba quickly queried a puzzled Akira.

"Um... Okamot-?" Akira was cut off hurriedly.

"Then you're screwed," Mitsuba concluded, putting her hands to her forehead in a feeling of stress. She handed Akira the magnifying glass and the sheet.

When examining it, Akira sighed. " _These_ are the horrible, scary people I was talking about."

"What do you mean?" Shinoa asked her quietly.

"They were the ones that sent out a vampire to kill my family," Akira reminded Shinoa and Yuu. "They've always known I was running away, and I've always known that they wanted to kill me..."

"Have you seen this poem before?" Mitsuba questioned Akira.

"Of course!" Akira answered. "That's the Caster's Vow! Well- _a_ Caster's Vow."

Yuu stared at Akira, still confused. "How long ago was it that your mother left that crappy rock band of witches?" He asked, curious as a cat.

"Like, when she first dated my dad. Their love broke her trance, which was a complete miracle.." Akira muttered. Yuu nodded, still unassertive of the case.

"Okay, we're gonna split up at this point. We need to point out any items we discover instead of keeping them to ourselves, okay?" Shinoa asked, glaring at Yuichiro, whose reputation was that of one description: reckless.

Yuu sighed and nodded. He knew Shinoa was specifically pointing the warning at him.

Everybody threw on their gloves and immediately followed their own path, leading different directions as they gripped each of their weapons tightly. Akira held on to her long, dull sword with a gleam of fear in her eyes. 'Is this safe?' Akira thought repeatedly as she questioned the security of the town.

Because from what she knew, not an inch of this town was even trustworthy.

 **3:50 P.M.**

Mika was screwed.

He paced around the locked entrance to the old house as he held the three items in his hands. An old picture frame, a tape recorder, and of course- a tape.

It was a tape that held secrets; it held evidence. It held answers. The tape consisted of minutes and minutes of a conversation between two people identified as Lorenzo and Nevena. It wasn't any conversation though, as Mika remembered the terrible crying and the horrifying announcement of death. The death of not only a mother and a father, but two children.

Mika couldn't take this any longer. He threw his bag off of him and stuffed his items into it, desperate to find the others and tell them what he had just found out.

x*x*x*x*x*

He could smell every one of them. He was getting closer to every one of them. Kimizuki, Yoichi, Mitsuba, Shinoa, and Yuu.

Yuu. That was it, right? Nobody else, not a single person other than those four and his best friend.

Yet, he recognized another scent in the distance, separate from the others, just as they were separate from each other.

Apparently, the group had decided to split up and engage in a mission of exploring the town. What was the other person doing around the place? Could it have been their enemy? The one after the girl that was saved?

Wait... The girl that was saved... Was that her? He needed to know who it was before heading off to one of the other scents. All he knew as he continued on, was that it _was_ a girl. A perfume of cinnamon was traced in her direction, which led the way.

He slowly sauntered into the darkness to prowl around the scent and sense every part of her. As he sneaked up behind a covering full of thick trees and streaming waters, he paused.

There, in front of him, through the darkness, was a dim light that shot itself in a line toward the person he was searching for. He looked upon her with wonder as he observed her actions.

She was ambling into the opening, letting her pitch black boots touch the cold, shallow water. There, resting upon her ebony colored leggings just below a leather hooded jacket, was a belt that contained a scratched, dull sword. Mika was aware of this.

The woman pulled her hood back to reveal dark, layered golden brown hair with honey highlights. Her eyes were amber and sharp as she inspected the opening carefully. She didn't notice Mika.

What Mika noticed though about her was that she looked fairly similar to the girl in the photo. Was she that girl? Was she the one that got saved?

Was the girl that appeared in the photo the one that got saved? And is this that one survivor? Or was philosophy taking a hold on him? Was he being obvious or something?

It just seemed so... surreal. There was a different vibe between the kids, and Yuu's explanation wasn't cutting the meat of any description in the entirety of the universe. He needed to improve on his recklessness and stories anyway. Was, it, really, that girl?

It all even scared Mikaela a bit, as his widened red eyes with pupils of a cat kept switching views from the moving image of the girl to the actual portrait of her.

'It can't be,' Mika thought to himself. He silently placed his bag in front of him and proceeded to comparing both of the girls, using actual evidence to justify his denial in the matter.

"..."

One had eyes of a hazel color that were bright and expressed emotion.

"..."

This one had deep, amber eyes that were reticent and mysterious.

'Wait,' Mika realized in his thoughts, considering Yuu's vague recollections. The girl- the survivor- maybe...

 _"He just ripped them apart and she came home to them dead. Sad, huh? She was... **crying** , and I hugged her. It's like, it all... **changed** her. She must've been a happy person before it all... I mean, just think..."_

Mika's pupils dilated tenfold. Now he understood.

She was the same person.

But her family, they...

They died.

Her eyes were sharper, her expression was duller, and her ambiance was different... because her family died.

'Sad,' Mika thought to himself once more as he relaxed himself in front of what could've been his prey- if she were a traitor to him. He still wondered about her, though. Maybe if he met her, would he still be able to trust her? Would he ever meet her before being sent off on a mission once again?

He sighed, observing his environment before kneeling in between dark bushes.

Mika then heard a sound.

It was an animal sound, that of a familiar thing but not quite reaching out as far to recognition ever since he was placed in the livestock system. It was a noise that consisted of a low, loud bellowing from a creature of some sort.

"Crap, a dog," Mika whispered quietly as disappointment overwhelmed him. He hated having to admit he was there to that human.

Dark, mustard fur bounced side to side as a long tail stretched out, knowing there was a girl sitting in the opening.

"Ah!" The girl yelled in a raspy, unprepared voice of surprise. She then sighed as she held the feisty dog in her lap and continuously shushed him away.

"Shh, we mustn't let them know you're near! They're gonna think I'm getting hurt!" She whispered harshly, attempting to calm the dog quietly. It still yelped and growled away, its body moving against whom Mika thought was Akira, who was hugging it close to her.

Finally, as the dog got calmer, Akira grinned kindly, and Mika swore her eyes had brightened to a soft hazel as she quietly said, "I'm glad you're okay, Takeshi."

Mika was curious now as he leaned forward in his hiding spot. He pondered over everything Akira was doing, as if the dog was her old friend. How did the dog even make it through everything with just her?

Unfortunately, Mika's action of leaning forward led the dog to sense him with up-most certainty as he started barking constantly, his eyes in the exact direction of where Mika hid.

Suddenly, the dog leaped forward and started dashing toward the spot. It stopped barking but growled at the safely hidden Mika, who was once again standing, unnoticed in the darkness.

Mika growled back, baring his teeth that held two fangs to threaten the dog. The dog whined at this as he backed away, intimidated by red eyes that seemed to stand out in the pitch black darkness of the opening's corner. He then heard, with his heightened senses, the girl gasp in fright.

"Takeshi!" Akira whispered as loudly as she could. Takeshi immediately ran back toward the girl and licked her, shaking and shivering in horror.

Akira apparently didn't seem to know it but she was staring right at Mika, to the point that Mika was almost certain she knew he was there. Instead of coming out, his red eyes that were once sky blue faded into the darkness that soon consumed his whole body.

There, he left the girl in the equivalent amount of wonder and suspicion as he had in the first place.

Akira.

No wonder that name sounded so familiar.

 _"I think her name's Akira. What I remember from it all."_

 **9:00 P.M.**

A thick, heavy door slammed itself shut behind someone carrying a bag that looked like it was about to explode.

"Back, Mika?" the voice of Yuichiro rang out, relieved.

"Of course. Where are the others?" Mika immediately asked Yuu, stuffing a tape recorder, tape, and picture frame into his unprepared arms.

"Err- in the living room?" Yuu answered, a little suspicious. He shrugged to himself and followed his best friend to the others.

"Guys," Mika gasped, happy to see everyone back home from before.

What was returned to him was a playful gleam in Shinoa's eyes as she announced specifically to a sleeping Kimizuki, "Attention, e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e, Mika's back!"

Kimizuki groaned and sat up, dazed.

"Where's Akira?" Yuu asked Mitsuba.

"After we showered she went to sleep," Mitsuba said as she yawned, bored.

"Right, speaking of- well, that girl or whoever, I need to know something," Mika declared. "Yuu, set that down on the table for everyone. Like, in a line."

Yuu glared at Mika. "I'm not the delivery ma-"

"Just do it." Mika turned his back to Yuu and moved his head in the very direction the table laid. Everyone immediately got up and followed along.

Yuu set down every item in a line as he hovered over them curiously. "Hmm..." he thought, interested.

Mika was desperate for evidence, apparently, as he involuntarily started to place the tape in the recorder without even telling a soul any of what the whole situation was about.

"Um- Mika?" Yoichi softly asked, concerned about everything. "What are you-"

Mika cut him off by forcing his hand over Yoichi's mouth, surprising him.

Everyone was confused. Everything was confusing from this point on.

"Listen," Mika patiently warned the group.

Then, a voice tuned in. The voice of a woman.

The room went dark as a blinding light shined over the recorder and stunned everyone. Mitsuba even took out her cursed gear forcefully in alert. Yoichi settled her down as the light dimmed and the voice once again rang out and overpowered the static to the point that it was nonexistent.

 _"Lorenzo, Lorenzo darling!"_

Yuu's green eyes gazed at the recorder, concerned and unaffected by the light shining upon his face.

 _"What's wrong, dear? I'm getting home soon."_

Mitsuba's eyes widened in wonder.

 _"They're coming, Lorenzo! They're coming for us!"_

Everybody was tense at this moment. It was indelible. That voice.

 _"Them? The children, Nevena! Do you have them with you? Zach, Gina, Akira?"_

 _"I am so, so sorry Lorenzo. Akira informed me of this, she's getting home."_

Kimizuki gasped, along with Shinoa and Yuichiro.

Shinoa softly murmured to everybody as the tape went on, "This phone call must have been... Oh my god..."

The group exchanged looks of horror as they continued to listen to the conversation.

 _"They will make it, Nevena, you hear me? They will make it!"_

 _"NO! You just do not understand, Lorenzo! Only one of us is going to survive, and I already know who it is."_

 _"Who?! Who, Nevena?"_

 _"Akira."_

 _"Only Akira?"_

 _"Yes."_

Yuu was terrified by this. It was surreal enough, given the fact that the other children were-

"See?" Mika quietly whispered. "This means that whoever it is that survived, and even these people- are or were being chased down by enemies."

"Exactly Akira's case," Shinoa murmured, aware of the similarity of the situation.

Mika grabbed the picture frame as presented it to everyone.

"Found on shattered glass. Who do you think it looks like?" Mika asked Kimizuki in an air of wonder.

"E-exactly like... like the bodies I recovered," Kimizuki answered, realizing what had laid before him.

"Was that her before?" Mitsuba questioned Mika as she zoomed in on the teenager.

"God..." Yuu sighed, seeing how much Akira's family's death changed her.

Yoichi was more concerned than ever with everything going on in front of him. He sadly looked upstairs into the dark hall that laid Akira's room.

Shinoa nodded to Kimizuki as she announced quietly, "Let us give a moment of silence to a family we have lost.

"A family of love and bravery that protected their own and more, and a family that maintained their freedom and will no matter what happened."

Yuu smiled hopelessly but with faith as everyone including Mika stood and closed their eyes in honor of the unknown family that never made it through the livestock system.

After their lids came open once more, Mika was about to head back up to his room when Yuu stopped him.

"Hey, Mika," Yuu softly mumbled.

"Hm?" Mika asked, exhausted.

"Can you promise me something?" Yuu queried him with a smile on his face.

Mika gave him a look that showed uncertainty for the question. "You know how hard it is to do that. Remember?" He asked, reminiscing the time he was forced to drink Yuu's blood to survive after resisting it for years, along with the fact that he was also forced to make sure he would survive just for Yuichiro after that.

Yuu gave him a look of assurance as he quickly retorted, "It's one I know you will keep, though! I myself promise that!"

"O-okay, what is it?" He asked, sighing to himself.

"Mika..." He whispered, considering that the others weren't too busy talking, though they sure were discussing everything at once.

"Yeah?" Mika asked Yuu in the same, quiet tone as him.

"Well... I... I just.. wanted to know if..."

Mika looked at him in expectation of a whole sentence.

"If you would... protect Akira for me? If I get hurt in battle or, just if I go berserk or something. I don't want her to get hurt," Yuu mumbled, hoping for the answer he wanted.

Mika stared at him. "Well... I never met her..."

"I know, but she's a good person! She's a good friend... But she's... weak. She's new to some of this, and I can't let her die like that," Yuu explained thoroughly, as if it was his duty in the first place to protect a friend.

Mika stared him over, unsure. "Do you think I can trust her?" He asked, sounding hopeless.

"Mhm," Yuu answered.

To this, he glanced at the stairs and gazed back at Yuu. "I... I guess.. Fine."

Yuu smirked as he stared on to the steps as well. "Thanks."

The clock ticked 10:00 P.M. as midnight settled in and harsh rain attacked numerous windows of the house as everyone returned to their rooms.

Akira wasn't just a girl- she was a survivor. A scavenger. Someone who wasn't caught. In a world such as one abandoned by the adults of the human race and invaded by vampires who took advantage of children and soldiers, a whole family wouldn't be expected to survive anything. Now the squad would sleep wondering where this girl's enemies were and whether they would ever encounter her or them again.

It was only a matter of time before new enemies would arrive as soon as old friends.

 **4:00 P.M.**

"All units are ready, sir. Ayame is dead."

"Good, Aoi. We will move those units out toward an unidentified city around Japan. I will provide a description, but for the meantime, prepare. It's only good you ignored that useless mother.

"As long as you side with me, you will be perfectly alright. You will be safe."


	6. Oh, The War Will Come

_"I will be alright, Zach! Go! Leave! Leave with your little sister! NOW!"_

 _"MOTHER!"_

 _"GO!"_

 **9:00 P.M.**

She twisted and turned in her bed about four thousand times before actually opening her eyes.

Akira groaned as she stared up at the ceiling. She yawned.

'What's gonna happen today?' She thought to herself as the sun softly brightened her hair. She attempted to sit up but eventually laid back down as the bed was too tempting and warm for her to leave.

"Ugh..." Akira breathed, covering her eyes with her hands and rubbing them, yawning again.

...

"Hmph," The voice of Mitsuba sighed deeply.

...

...

...

A little "Heh," here and there...

...

Wait...

It took Akira twenty seconds to realize that Mitsuba had been watching her from her bedside all along before she yelled "WHAT THE HE-"

"Shh!" Mitsuba angrily shushed Akira with her own hands, calming her down as she whispered, "You're not getting killed or anything. Am I really that scary?" She asked her softly, giving her a look of sarcasm.

"N-no.. I just- er..." Akira hesitated to tell her the truth. "I'm just not used to it."

"Better do get used to it," Mitsuba replied, patting her on the shoulder and smiling. "You and I are gonna have so much fun together."

"Ahem, you mean you and _I_ ," Yuichiro laughed as he entered Akira's room, surprising her as she gasped softly. "I am awesome at fighting so I will be the one to do practice battles with her."

"Hm, ya see what I mean? He's reckless as-"

"YOU'RE reckless as-" Yuu was cut off by Akira's giggles and laughs as he angrily murmured, "Okay. Yeah, you're kinda right."

"I do quite agree, Mitsuba," Shinoa's voice cunningly rang out as she laughed along, entering the room. "But yeah, you can do practice battles with her."

"Gets to me," Yuu sighed as he glared at her.

"Enough, enough. To sum it up, Akira, you're gonna be training with us!" Mitsuba excitedly exclaimed, beaming widely as she stood up.

Akira grinned, determined about how things were going to work out with training for bloodshed. If she wanted to avenge a family that experienced no freedom whatsoever, she had to learn how to survive for them and this would be the perfect solution to her lack of skill.

'This is going to be a big deal,' Akira thought to herself as she stared at her pillow.

Yuu sat on Akira's other bedside with credence of a conclusion in his mind and smirked. "No matter what, I'm gonna defeat you anyway."

Challenged, but still determined, Akira shot back. "Let's see about that, Yuu. Maybe you won't."

"Oooh, maybe never," Shinoa happily sang to herself noticeably. "Who knows how strong she can get?"

Yuu ignored her as he turned back to Akira and hissed at her sure face, "Bring it on!"

It was overwhelming at first, with him looking at her that suddenly, but she tried to keep her balance and maintain her prepared expression.

"Bring it on."

Just one of the first times Akira ever looked into his daring eyes like that and said those three words.

 **9:25 P.M.**

"Here we are," Shinoa announced as they arrived at the gigantic room.

Akira was sure that everything Shinoa just said echoed throughout the room as voices followed hers.

"A giant room we found built beneath this house. Perhaps for bad storms or bad people, but it's large enough to fight in," Mitsuba explained.

"Yes. Yuu, can you come here for a second?" Shinoa loudly asked Yuu.

"Er, sure," He responded, walking alongside her as they left an intrigued Akira to attempt to understand everything Mitsuba was saying.

As they edged off to a clearer and farther distance from the other two, Shinoa grasped Yuichiro's hand and shoved him and her into a small closet outside in the halls at the top of the stairs.

"What the hell!" Yuichiro whispered loudly with a terrified expression over his pale face. "You looked like you wanted to kill me there for a second or someth-"

"Shut up already and listen. I need to make a point to you that I made to Mitsuba," Shinoa thoroughly whispered back with a pensive look. "I already explained this to both Kimizuki and Yoichi especially."

"Spit it out already so I can leave this damn closet. Not to be straight out but I'm gonna hate having to stand here and be caught with you!" Yuu muttered apprehensively.

"Okay, alright, alright. I need you not to reveal to her anything about us being- you know..." Shinoa hesitated to reveal to Yuu.

Yuu had it already figured out by then. "Oh..." He gulped. "Yeah, she doesn't know about the Black Demon Series."

"Exactly. She's new to most of this, as my observations state," Shinoa mused.

"What? You've been spying on her or something?" Yuu reluctantly questioned her.

"No! What I am saying is that you can easily tell from her behavior that she has not a single idea what has been going on outside in this world after the human population decreased... I can see that knowing she has enemies from all over the world apparently."

"What do you mean?" Yuu asked suspiciously.

"Ugh, what I mean is that from around the world there are many other subjects and projects tested by specifically powerful casters that have claimed to partake in experimentation, and this enemy we have now is the most powerful of them all," Shinoa explained.

Yuu was confused by this. How in the world were they any different, especially if they were just around an abandoned town with no other main units by their side? "Huh?" was all Yuu could react with.

"You don't get it? Look, if you heard her story correctly then you would have recognized the fact that this could have ended our world. Did you ever think about examining that Caster's Vow once more? I suggest you do," Shinoa muttered sternly. "Qau Elainth requires Okamoto blood to _cleanse_ the world."

"Wait... So they can end the world again with her blood?" Yuu questioned in a surprised tone. "Why would they want to do that?"

"To cleanse it apparently, like I said, idiot," Shinoa replied roughly. She then smiled and explained once more, "We're not gonna teach her any of _those_ skills or reveal anything to her at any time."

They both walked out of the closet slowly in a normal manner toward the stairway, red. Very red. And quiet.

"Hey, Shinoa?" Yuu quietly asked Shinoa, halting as he heard Akira and Mitsuba loudly conversing downstairs.

"Hm?" She responded.

"You do realize we gotta tell her sooner or later, right?" He questioned, worried.

"We will, but not at this time," Shinoa assured Yuu as they both trudged down the stairs, holding the cloth of their pockets tightly.

*x*x*x*x*x*

"OKAY, SO THIS IS A ROOM TO YELL AND SCREAM IN IF ANYTHING SEEMS TO GO WRONG, OKAY AKIRA? YOU HEAR ME?! **THIS IS HOW LOUD YOU CAN GO!** " Mitsuba bellowed in such a manner that made her echoes almost ring unpleasantly.

Akira winced and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I, I hear ya." She then saw Yuu and Shinoa and grinned widely, holding her weapon tightly. "When are we gonna start? I know the place now!"

"Just in the nick of time," Shinoa beamed as she cunningly swung a heavy, normal sword in front of her.

Yuu grunted. He knew very well that at this point if challenged, Shinoa would've just activated her scythe, but it just couldn't work that way. Akira only thought that the scythe's effects and extra powers were from her dreams at this point so it wouldn't make any sense to her whatsoever. How long was he going to have to keep this act up? What if they got into a real batt-

"AH!" Akira yelled hoarsely as Shinoa zoomed through the room like a cannonball, swinging the blade confusingly to stun her. "Wha, wha- WHAT DO I DO?!"

"Calm down, you'll learn all of this. All of it," Shinoa happily sung. She then lowered her weapon and cleared her throat. "Okay, so, let's try the basic combat skills. Kicks and punches are not nearly as effective as sword moves unless they are to stun or weaken the enemy. Observe."

Mitsuba stood forward and shouted, "Hey, Akira, this is a non example of what to do!" She ran extremely fast toward Shinoa and punched her hard in the stomach, causing her to stumble back a bit.

Shinoa, however, doubled back and leaped forward, resting her leftover weight on her already heavy weapon and charging at a now unprepared Mitsuba. The blow was so hard that Mitsuba couldn't get back up after being tossed back into a pile of dirty cloth.

"So then, the point of the situation when at war with your enemies is to make choices that will be very effective to only your target, leaving you to suffice with an efficient amount of energy left to target other enemies at ground," Shinoa explained earnestly.

Akira was taking a while to absorb the lesson, but she nodded as she gradually understood every word being told to her by then.

"When your enemies strike, observe their fighting behavior and determine their will of move. If they are going for your heart, you move your body along to a direction that they cannot easily turn to.

"Vampires will stop at nothing to kill or dominate their enemies so they will be brutal in their intentions and will strike fast and seriously. This limits us to only two paths that we can take. Dodge or defiance. Observe again," Shinoa quietly commanded Akira as she drew her weapon in a stance toward a fierce looking Mitsuba, who was now holding a different weapon than her sword.

"Livestock! Die!" Mitsuba yelled angrily as she clashed her poor looking weapon with Shinoa's, harshly going against her in a raging storm of hate.

'Man, she's desperate for that act,' Akira thought to herself as her widened eyes stared on at the sight. 'This must be defiance.'

Shinoa all of a sudden emitted her full strength and brought Mitsuba's weapon to the ground, leaving her to trip back a little bit. She then brought her sword up and acted as if she were about to stab her violently. "That is defiance, my darling."

Akira carried an expression of awe about her as she prepared herself for the battle she was about to partake in. Her dull sword swung out loudly and she glared at Shinoa, thinking she was ready.

...

Yes, she was thinking she was ready. She assumed she was ready. She thought she was ready, but it was all coming to her so fast that she thought she would lose immediately if a vampire ever saw her upon its grounds.

Yuu just watched with big eyes that expressed tension and surprise.

"EEEERRRYYAAGGGH!" Shinoa yelled as she ran at Akira with a force and power that even she could feel from feet away.

What was Akira going to do at this moment? She was terrified! Shinoa was charging at her so quickly... yet when her thoughts emerged it was as if slow motion had just taken her about... What was she going to do?

Wait...

It was all so... surreal... scary... the air around Akira grew heavier and warmer... It was as if Shinoa were slower than a snail at this point.

 _Is this how it is on the battlefield? It's like five seconds is a hundred..._

She was running after her with so much confidence and anger... Was that what the vampires really had for the humans? Did they hate them that much?

 _Her anger... I could feel it, there's so much... Is that... could that be real hate for me?..._

'That's cruel,' Akira thought to herself as she imagined the terrifying faces of the vampires charging after soldiers...

 _No... it's all a trick. This is training... They're simulating it all... Or are they faking their affection for me?_

So little time... The fear had made it seem like Shinoa was running faster and faster...

What was Akira to do again? What did she have to do to charge ba-

Oh. That was the point. Defiance. In this moment of gradual thinking Akira pulled her sword up as fast as she was able to and thought.

She thought away at the anger itself. The feeling of hurt and sadness...

Vampires... They ran after her for years... Why was she afraid now?

They killed so many people, so many innocent souls...

They killed her family. Violently.

They killed them.

They ruined everything.

Them.

Wait... them.

Time was up. Shinoa was about to take the hit when-

Akira clashed her roughly in a fit of passion and resentment, ignoring the fact that she affected her already in the process of stunning her so quickly. All she saw was that face. That dreadful, bloody face of that same, evil vampire that murdered her family coldly and without any mercy.

She wanted to kill him. So bad. The hatred was continuous, burning within her deeply.

Then she snapped back in reality as she saw the warm, shocked face of the same person who saved her life by killing the beast.

"Woah!" Yuu's voice rang out. "You just ricocheted Shinoa off that weapon. Did you see that Mitsu?"

"Augh, goodness, wow," Shinoa gasped as she forced a smile through the pain she felt in her bruised arms.

Akira was speechless at this point. She wasn't at her moment of glory, she was at her moment of training. Right. She awkwardly patted Shinoa's shoulder and gave a nervous laugh.

"Ha, all joking aside, that was, _very_ well," Shinoa breathed as she stood up and brushed off the remaining dirt from her hands.

"Yeah. You'll master defiance with that same ounce of confidence and skill," Mitsuba happily explained as she backed off, ready for Shinoa's next step.

"Okay, so by then, we have our natural instincts kick in if we are unable to obtain any ability of attack or are too weak to defy our enemies. We look at an empty point that holds the most potential of escape and safety, and then we pay attention to how we will dodge the attack.

"If our enemies decide to strike us in a lower point, we have to roughly learn to leap to a high extent. Sometimes, we can even attack while in air but you don't hold that ability yet," Shinoa softly mused.

Mitsuba then approached Shinoa in a speedy fashion and drew her weapon out in a way that made it seem she wanted to slash her stomach. Shinoa then did a move that made Akira question her life for a second as she unrealistically jumped high into the air with a high amount of speed and power. Mitsuba only slashed thin air.

"What the hell!" Akira yelled, fascinated and desperate to learn the move. Shinoa landed swiftly on her feet as she smirked and balanced herself out.

"Like I said, you will learn all of it, Aki-chan," She replied, clapping her hands together excitedly.

"Okay, teach me," Akira said, resting her hands on her hips and puffing up her chest to look heroic and tough.

They both held a stare-down, only the most awkward of them all until Shinoa rolled her eyes and broke the silence that erupted gradually.

"Okay. Jump."

There was another completely awkward silence throughout the entire room as Akira stared at Shinoa, confused.

"Um... Jump? That's it? I can't jump nearly as high as you ca-"

"Just jump," Shinoa repeated.

"Okay, okay... Are you sure-"

"Jump already!"

"I'm going, I'm going!"

"Then do what you're saying and go on," She ordered.

Akira saw a point in this and continued on, quietly following Shinoa's bark of assurance. She stared back one more time at a calm Mitsuba, who shrugged curiously and plopped herself next to Yuichiro on a dusty sofa.

She returned the shrug and then glanced at Shinoa before walking forward a little more and clearing her throat silently. She prepared herself for the position... then bounced up into the air as high as she could ever possibly let her feet bend up into.

"NOW HOLD," Shinoa shouted in a manner that intimidated Akira immediately.

"AH!" Akira screamed as she fell miserably to the floor.

Akira attempted with all her might to swim up onto and within the air, but she could feel herself inching back down gradually. She had to hold on. She had to hold on. She couldn't hold back... Damn it...

Nature was taking its effect fast onto Akira, but she prevented it with all her might, trying to keep herself balanced and weightless against the strength of the gravity that she could feel so much pouring onto her...

It was so hard to take in success when one realized they were going to endure a painful failure in the end. Akira should've just given up at this point... there were so many other important things to learn... holding your ground... attacking with a plan and technique...

It always took so long for Akira to learn a new move. Why? How could she keep herself up on all these rough bones and meat of hers? Shinoa must've been just very, very petite in her figure for that matter...

Akira wished she had a small body.

What she took a moment to realize, then, after she was finished daydreaming, was that she was now floating in mid air mindlessly. It was basically surreal but she believed that much. She couldn't help but have a small ounce of hope for the fact that she may have successfully done the amazing move nonetheless. Now her feet were starting to weigh down on her toward the ground slowly and surprisingly.

As she softly hit the ground, Shinoa smiled confidently. "T'is then you're gonna learn a lot more from me."

Mitsuba applauded with a smirk on her enlightened face as Yuu relaxed himself on a couch off to the side of the room, beaming.

Akira, for the first time, felt empowered. She felt like she could do anything, like she was above and beyond. She was ready. She was always ready and now, she would finally get to learn. She would finally get to learn how to kill a vampire. How to fight back.

 **11:00 P.M.**

She harshly punched the wall with an amount of force so great it cracked and spat dust back at her. "FERID!" She screamed vibrantly and angrily, pounding on her cell door. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

Nobody heard her though. The room was dark and silent and an ambiance of quiet suspense filled the air. In fact, nobody was in the house.

It was a remote, abandoned jailhouse miles and miles far off into an unknown land that was hot and dry. She saw this clearly through her window that held verlane covered bars.

She was supposed to be Krul Tepes, the third progenitor, a strong vampire, the leader of all, and even she couldn't get away with the horrifying effects of the verlane inside of her system. Every ounce of it weakened her to the point that she was going to have to use a technique that was man-made and human to survive.

She breathed for cold air as an icy breeze finally swept along her long, tangled pink hair. With this she felt slightly stronger. She stared around her vicinity.

There was absolutely no way to escape. The bars on her window were weak for even a human to rip apart easily, but hot verlane was dripping continuously from every part of them. It was a false hope that consumed her, like a bone in a cage in front of a whining dog. Krul felt absolutely downhearted about her odds. Her treachery was divulged with full credence, and by then _again_ , she herself was betrayed by Ferid Bathory, a seventh progenitor. He ensured that she would be punished for her wrongdoings, though he only tortured and starved her for his pleasure, as she knew deeply. This was Ferid's way of playing the game. Leaving her in a cell to gradually wither away to pieces after becoming a full, starved monstrosity that would never be able to quench her own thirst or fulfill her own appetite.

She gazed at the barred window, doubting she would ever be able to survive her injuries out there.

But then again, it was her only chance of escaping from this dump. She was a vampire that would eventually heal from her wounds anyway.

She sighed. She knew well that if she had though attempted to squeeze the bars out of the window and break them apart, she would injure herself severely to a point that she would be too weak to heal, and she would weaken her system even more.

'I can't risk it,' Krul thought to herself as she hid her head in her lap hopelessly. On her leg laid bleeding cuts that tempted her so much she almost considered cutting away at her body to drink her own blood, but what was the use of killing one's self if their point was to survive? Or was she going to die anyway?

 _Drop..._

 _Drop..._

 _Drop..._

Every drop of blood that hit the floor felt like a waterfall of essence but Krul knew she couldn't do it.

 _Drop..._

 _Drop..._

 _Drop..._

Or could she? She longingly stared at the crimson liquid that flowed across the lines of the stone floor tiles...

Blood.

Blood.

"BLOOD!" She screamed, then suddenly muffling her voice as she realized how crazed she became by the mere thought of it.

She needed to get out, or she was going to die. She gulped and inhaled as she eyed the bars of her window desperately. This was going to hurt like hell.

She gradually stood up and trudged over to the bars of the window, regretful but still wanting to leave the desolate place. Her hands crept up slowly onto the thick, hot and steaming metal bars of the window.

"Here I go," Krul thought aloud as she then placed her fingers onto the bars and clenched her hands around them tightly.

The jailhouse echoed with loud, violent screams as she tossed the hot bars one by one aside onto the floor.

"One." A screech of pain.

"Two." A howl of agony.

"Three." A growl of desperation.

"F- four!" A whine of torment.

As soon as Krul had finished removing the last and final bar, she silently winced with her watery eyes and held her hand so hard that it actually reddened, burned and boiled by the verlane that drooled over the windows, condensed from its vaporized version. She then stared ahead of her, gasping for breath as she rummaged painfully for something.

She trailed around the cell room, grabbing rubble of harsh, beaten and sharp rock material. As soon as she held a large collection and variety of gigantic stones and marbles, she tossed them into a pile on the dirty floor, careless about the puddle of blood that lay before them. For a while she wildly scrambled around the place, determined about finding a specific thing that was perfectly essential to her safety.

She started to continuously punch the walls of her cell with a collected force in anger. As she delivered a blow to her corner wall effectively, pieces of it fell onto the floor and seemed to hit soft ground as it hardly made any noise. It was as if a pillow had laid there, beyond the dirt, seeming to give even the hardest rubble a soft, quiet landing to the floor, ignoring vampire strength.

Her fingers fumbled along the dirt on the floor, digging harshly into the ground and breaking apart surrounding tiles. She threw handfuls of dirt to the side and dug deeper, leaving her long nails filthy.

Krul paused. What was that location she overheard Ferid discussing with one of the common vampires? For- Foris- de Park? Did she really need to know what they were talking about anyway when she found this apparent "map"? Or...

She shook off her attempt to remember as she rummaged for the item that was important to her. Along the way, she would forcefully pound and drop some of the hard rocks she collected onto the dug up floor dirt to ensure that they didn't hit softly, so that she wouldn't miss out on her chance of survival.

As she smashed the last group of dirt filled with sharp stones at the dirt pile, she sighed, watching it hit it softly. She couldn't believe it. Maybe Ferid was faking a conversation with one of the common vampires to give her a sense of hope that would soon be lost to the truth. At any second now she bet that he would come bursting through the door laughing idiotically at her pathetic move.

She eyed the pile, ashamed of herself.

Wait a minute...

That last mount of dirt she threw the stone filled ball into gave it a soft landing...

Her red, bloodshot eyes widened as she crawled quickly but quietly toward the pile, breathing heavily as she felt around for any soft scrolls or scraps of paper, whatever the important item appeared to be.

At last, her palm softly reached a papery material. She pulled it out and stared at it in awe, amazed at her own luck. Finally, she would escape this dump.

It was a rolled up, loose scroll that appeared to be awfully old. She unrolled it carefully, and was surprised to see that there were thousands of locations marked around a geographical viewpoint specifically dedicated to Japan's roots.

She knew she would recognize the name and location immediately, but she still attempted to remember what the name was. After a minute or two of patient inspection, her fingers tapped a location on the map that marked "Forilisma de Parqued."

She then grinned, determined as she stared ahead through the windows at the dry, deserted land that surrounded the jailhouse and whispered:

"Village of the Survivors."

 **4 Months Later**

A hooded figure was perched onto a surviving corner roof of a demolished building. She glanced around her, with sharp eyes that seemed to win over anything they were targeting. She brushed her golden brown hair back, which was soft and as silky as the purest honey from a comb, but full of ringlets and abundant in volume. She breathed just as softly as her hair ever was though, for she was a ghost in the howling gusts of wind.

What a Four Horsemen of John blindly swinging his ginormous arm in front of her didn't know, was that she was the rather most deadly ghost that even the most ferocious beast could ever imagine.

How unlucky that creature was.

She eyed her prey silently, observing its every wicked move as it proceeded to smashing a building across from her, attempting to capture and slaughter whoever it was it heard barking out orders loudly to other beings that it could sense.

But time was running out fast for the fiend as it was being tracked down upon its weaknesses, and whoever it was that was shouting out words of control and leadership was getting closer, with the sound of blades slashing violently across the air, ready to strike, and the feminine scent of a being grew stronger.

The hooded figure slyly hopped from the corner roof to a perfectly stable one of a tall, hardly damaged building and waited. The monster was thrashing out in a panic, determined to smash whoever it heard.

'Ah, so a game of Marco Polo,' the figure thought to herself, smirking cunningly as she drew out her scratched, dull and heavy sword, preparing to commence her attack.

"You've got one on your left, Akira!" A loud voice hollered from a teenage boy with jet black hair that swung around the blind filth.

"I know, Yuu! Leave me to this one!" Akira Okamoto ordered as she followed the boy's nod of approval. She proceeded to skipping through and behind the c'eature as it screeched with rage.

'T'is time for bed, idiot,' She thought to herself as she took a kneeling position, ready to pounce onto the Four Horsemen of John. 'Die.'

She then leapt from the stable roof into the foggy, humid swirls of cold and hot air and disappeared from the monster's sudden glance.

"Okay, guys, I think that's all of them," Mitsuba declared, wiping tiny drops of crimson from her mouth. She trudged slowly toward Shinoa, wiping sweat from her forehead as she sighed.

Shinoa forced a playful smile, but paused to see that Yuu had returned from his position.

"All of them, right?" Shinoa yelled out to Yuichiro in question.

"Akira said she would handle the last one," Yuu replied, then chugging the last few droplets of water from a tin bottle.

"What? Wait, you mean there's another one?" Yoichi asked, stunned of his inaccurate assumption.

"And SHE'S going to kill it?" Kimizuki queried, shocked. "I swear to god, that kid."

"We're all kids," Mitsuba muttered under her heavy breath. Kimizuki was always the more... Grown up one. In fact, he was taller than everyone else in the small squad.

Yoichi then gasped quietly as he pointed ahead of him. Everyone turned in his direction and all observed the same thing, hearing a loud screech of despair.

Akira was planted on top of the creature's head, stabbing harshly into the back of it's neck while it attempted to heal itself from the deadly, deep slices that she had made. Her blade threw itself deeper in, the thick, heavy material that was harder than rock puncturing the monster gradually.

Fog had overwhelmed the monster's vision entirely now as it stumbled back, ashes of ebony and red surrounding it constantly. The Four Horsemen of John, with its broken, spider-like legs, tumbled forward now, leaving Akira to withdraw her blade and fly into the air like a bird. As her body stayed still in the heavy air, she looked over the lands, which were darkened with ash and dirt. She then saw her friends off to the side, staring at the monster in surprise.

Akira then let herself fall gracefully from the thick fog as she swooped through the mixture of hot and cold winds toward her new family.

As she landed swiftly, ahead of her stood Mitsuba and Shinoa, who smirked, impressed.

Their JIDA uniforms, which they had worn as a disguise in case the Imperial Demon Army had come, were ripped and torn, their bows slightly bent and deformed.

"Woah, that was good!" Yuu shouted happily, gazing at the ashes of the gigantic beast.

Akira smiled confidently from behind her dark hood. Kimizuki patted her on the shoulder.

"Good thing we're not that far from the wall. Otherwise your little girly self would've been damn meat by now," he exclaimed, matter-of-factly.

"Oh shut up," Akira responded, sticking her tongue out even if he couldn't see it. Kimizuki only grinned and whispered "Make me."

"Well then, Okamoto, you've shown strength defeating this Four Horsemen of John. I'm confident that those battles you and Yuichiro are continuing will guide you to perfection!" Shinoa playfully cried, skipping around with excitement. "You've already killed a monster!"

Mitsuba loudly sighed and glared at the girl whose vibe screamed guile as she turned to Akira and patted her on the back, beaming in all attempts to ignore Shinoa.

Akira returned the beam awkwardly as the group continued on their path back to their base. Yoichi galumphed along beside Kimizuki shyly, smiling with the rest of the family.

"How lucky are we to be known for something? Shinoa, a Hiiragi, me, a Sangu, Akira, a scavenger and girl of wonders-"

"Kimizuki, the greatest guy and omelet maker in the world," Yoichi kindly announced, smiling.

"Huh, you really like me, then?" Kimizuki sarcastically asked in a humble tone. He then grinned at Yoichi. "Yoichi, a brave archer..."

"And me?" Yuu questioned in a begging tone.

Kimizuki sighed and thought for a moment. "That's complicated."

"Oh, is it really?" Mitsuba queried playfully. Kimizuki then shook his head.

"I got it."

"Spill it."

"The boy with the ability to end the world, but can also save it."

Akira was confused by this, but smiled, thinking he was making fun of Yuu's recklessness, but rewarding his effort.

It wasn't like he was some other virus that was going to wipe out the rest of the human population.

She stared at Yuichiro, admiring how innocent his blinking eyes were.

He seemed like only someone who could save the world.

Never end it.

 _Wrong,_ a voice echoed inside of Akira's head.

She shrugged it off.

 **6:00 P.M.**

"Sir, we have prepared our swordsmen for our movement to the unidentified town, in which we will be ready to depart to next week," Aoi sternly announced.

"Good. Bring Guren to me, I need to speak to him about an essential compone-" Kureto was interrupted.

"Right here," A man with messy, dark hair and gleaming red eyes yelled, crossing his strong arms around each other and leaning back against one of the many golden poles that held the high ceiling of the room. "Why'd ya call me?"

He hesitated. "Well..."

"Spit it out," Guren mumbled, smirking in an attempt to annoy Kureto.

Offended, he continued in a strong voice. "Our units are ready to depart to the unidentified town."

Guren just blankly stared at him, waiting for something new.

"In which the rebellion you call a squad may just be located."

He sighed in response to Kureto's concerned explanation. "Just cut it out with the kids, alright? I have everything under control. I don't care a lick about them, they can go die in a hole for all I care. Be eaten by a pack of vamps."

"Just a few months ago another version of you wouldn't have said that, Ichinose. You would've threatened me by now."

"What can I say? People change," Guren exclaimed playfully, shrugging carelessly.

"Possession doesn't change someone, fool. Possession manipulates someone's actions and drains them of their thoughts, reeling in their own," Kureto reminded Guren as he stood up slowly, thunder rippling away behind him through the windows. He then grinned. "I'm sure you know something about them that I don't?"

"Only their personalities. Benefit of knowing them for a while," Guren replied, crossing his arms once more.

"Let him speak."

Guren raised an eyebrow in confusion as his crimson eyes gazed upon a determined but scary looking Kureto.

"Let him speak, Mahiru."

"What are you talking abo-" Guren was interrupted by a sudden pain that shot through his head like a bullet. His ears and eyes were throbbing harshly as his face darkened to a red that was more pure than his eyes.

"Wha- what the hell?" He gasped as he took his hand to his forehead and pushed hardly against it, wincing. The pain was so horrible that his whole body was aching, affected by the agony that was already stirring on his upper body.

"What did you do _that_ for, Kureto?" A familiar feminine voice echoed throughout the room, mysteriously reminding Guren of someone that he...

"Mahiru?" He heavily yelled in question.

"Hush, my darling. Don't let him try to get anything out of you, dear," The ghostly figure of Mahiru Hiiragi gently murmured. Soft lavender hair and a gorgeous smile hoevered over him, softer hands caressing his face before he crawled away, perturbed.

Guren was so confused...

"What's happening to me?" He shouted, his face expressing pure fear and anger. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was... Mahiru. And then... It was as if he fell asleep...

"Do not pay any mind about her, Guren," Kureto sternly yelled. "I need to ask _you_ a question."

"Did you do this to me? I, I'm not giving you anything, you idiot!" Guren bellowed vibrantly, wanting to force every bit of wrath upon the Hiiragi. He then winced that the horrid pain that returned, overwhelming his body and weakening it.

"On with the questions, Guren. We don't have much time to spare. Tell me quicker and the pain will all go away," Kureto sighed loudly as he frowned.

Mahiru sighed quieter as her heavenly voice exclaimed, "Oh, brother, you're no good these days."

"Shush," Kureto growled, annoyed. "Answer me this, Guren, and maybe when we find your friends, we'll let them live."

Friends... Yuu... Guren forgot all about him... Was he alright? Were the kids alright? Were they safe? Where were they?

 _That idiot Yuu,_ Guren thought to himself quietly, realizing what could have happened to them. He winced once more at the horrible torment that ruined him constantly, blood pumping through him at the fastest rate.

"Time is running out, Guren. Spit it out."

He turned his head up at Kureto, his eyes narrowed in complete anger. He was going to unleash hell if Kureto said another wor-

"My love, I'm here. Remember... I am the only one who can grant you your greatest wishes.." Mahiru cooed. "Just listen to me."

"I'm not... giving you... anything..." Guren finally cried out, gasping for oxygen as he tried to crawl in Kureto's direction, but was halted.

"Oh well... Seems like they will die then."

"W-what?!" He asked, shocked. "Wait... Wait, wait, no!"

Before he could finish his sentence, Mahiru's figure started to swirl into ashes, surrounding him intimately as he became exhausted, the pain gradually leaving him. Black spots invaded his vision as he closed his once purple eyes and fell to the ground, unconscious.

Kureto shook his head, glaring at where Mahiru was once standing.

"You two soldiers there, pick this one up and send him to his room!" He screamed, angry as hell for his failure in grasping information from the possessed man. The soldiers followed through immediately as A figure in the distance observed the site.

"Aoi..." He breathed, trying to calm down. The figure stepped out and looked up at him.

What he didn't know was that she was glaring furiously at him.

That all had taken to a change when his intimidating eyes met hers.

"Sir?" Aoi asked, trying as hard to pretend she was concerned for the man who ordered her to kill her one true love. None of the patients survived the radiation. None of them.

"It's nothing, Aoi. Just go."

"Just go."

 **8:00 P.M.**

His rough lips grinned, taking a sip from his wine glass that held a thick, warm crimson liquid that was present on his face just as well. As he sat back in his throne, he crossed his long legs that supported his short body around. They rested upon a frightened little girl in the clothes of a human livestock. She was shivering, crying quietly to herself as she bowed with all her might, trying to hold the fake, intended weight that the ruler had forced upon her back. She was petrified greatly by the sight.

For in front of her laid a much older girl, dead across the vampire's lap. Her crystal blue eyes were wide open as her slightly broken neck paralyzed her. It was bloodied, and punctured by two fangs that belonged to Lest Karr. Her life was fully drained out of her pale body, gradually taken away from her, with venom replacing her cells and leaving her to deal with the painful effects of his tight, squeezing grasp on her waist, and the poison's burning of her insides. Her cries of pain were muffled a long time ago, when that neck of hers was broken, and he still drank, that monstrosity, halting the last few seconds of her life that she stared at her little sister in fear.

Now her little sister was bowing to her killer, thinking about the sight as she watched the vampire enjoy his sips of what was most certainly not wine.

"And why would you be staring at me like that, little girl?" His voice cooed playfully as he narrowed his eyes to pierce hers.

The girl couldn't take the intimidating gaze and stopped glaring at the vampire. She felt a harsh pain as the ruler rested his legs even harder onto her back, enough to crush her kneeling legs to the floor. She cried harder as she was forced to stare into her big sister's dead eyes.

"Oh hello there, Ferid Bathory!" Lest loudly welcomed as he watched the seventh progenitor strut into the room.

"My king," Ferid said as he bowed respectfully toward the ruler. He smirked.

"Sit, I have much to tell you," Lest exclaimed, taking his crossed legs off the girl and throwing her sister at her, leaving her to weep in agony.

"Before you continue, I must tell you something crucial, Lest," Ferid admitted reluctantly, still cunning in his delivery of words.

"Go on," Lest mumbled, smiling as he glanced at the crying girl.

"Well, I have done as you asked, my king. I held a conversation with one of your assigned soldiers, in a hearing distance away from Krul's cell, explaining the information. In these four months, apparently, Krul has been... Krul has been-"

"What?" Lest asked, concerned.

"Let me just tell you that she still escaped. It wasn't recent."

It was awfully silent for a couple of long seconds, but eventually Ferid looked up to see, to his surprise, that Lest maintained his smile.

"Are you upset, my king?" Ferid quietly questioned.

"No, Ferid, I'm impressed," Lest replied, his smile larger than ever as he stood up and drank the last drops of the blood in his glass. "Now we vampires do not have to worry about how Krul will wrest sovereignty back and away from me or anyone ever again!"

"What do you mean?"

"My intentions must not have been clear, and I apologize, but... I wanted you to reveal that information in such a way that she would be able to escape and be _rid of_ , you see," He explained.

"Elaborate, I'm intrigued," Ferid ordered, interested.

"Well? That map leads specifically to a far off location. The one I told you to mention. Forilisma de Parqued. Village of the Survivors. It will be far away, where those stupid casters will distract her from whatever is happening here in Japan. She's probably there by now," Lest declared, matter of factly.

"And may I ask who the casters are?" Ferid queried.

"Nothing more than a brand of supernatural beings that participated in the Hyakuya Sect and Similar projects to the Seraph of the End, practicing spell castings and eventually betraying everyone they worked with to build their own project.

"You see, they were rather superstitious in their own manner, traditional... When they found they were of the ability to perform a deadly ritual, they were thrilled and determined. Numerous essential bloodlines gathered once, to attempt the spell they were crazed over. They were about to move on with the last step of the ritual until the continued Okamoto gene, Nevena, turned against them, lovesick for her man. It _was_ indeed a good thing her smart brain turned on finally, and she made a family," Lest explained thoroughly.

"Hm. You have respect for the human-like witch," Ferid chuckled softly, amused.

Lest raised an eyebrow. "She was smarter. Maybe more than I back in the day. Just possessed. Persuaded. That's all it takes to change someone..."

"Why would the ritual be ever so deadly? Why did they become obssessed?" Ferid queried curiously, apart from the subject of the specific woman.

"Well, my dear Ferid, when one holds a belief, they are absolutely determined to do anything they can; sacrifice anything they can, for a better world- at least, in their perception. For survival or goodness. Either or. An aspect continued by our ancestors. Surely you know that the Hyakuya Sect was indeed a very religious group? The most magical branch and organization?

"Like I said, when one holds a belief, they are determined to appease and be accepted. In most cases it is kind and such, but these casters knew that by gathering the required bloodlines and spilling their blood upon the stone of Qau Elainth- also the name of the ritual, that they would be able to end the world and decrease its population of humans literally- to zero."

"Why would they want to do that?" Ferid mused.

"To cleanse it of its apparent sinners. In which we all are," The ruler answered, rolling his eyes in annoyance at the thought of it. "To them, they are conceited. They think they are the helpers of God. They never knew that they would be doing something against Him. They are blind, at that," He sighed. "Already a mistake to Jesus. Of course, they are forgiven, but never would those humans that are forgiven for their sins be able to live their life and make better choices. My concept when I myself had human blood in my veins, and I must admit, I have that concept to this day. Even as an evil vampire," Lest exclaimed, tapping his wrist. "What they're doing is twisted in a way, when thought about."

"My king, you are admirably hypocritical," Ferid sighed as he eyed the girl that had finally finished crying, hiding in the corner.

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't," The malicious ruler muttered to himself. "Anyway, as I was saying...

"Nevena recognized the wrongdoing in all of this after falling in love with her man, and turned on the most powerful clan performing the spell. She ran away and started a family. One consisting of her, her husband, her son and daughter. At least that's what I certainly remember.

"After years of searching, for she had traveled far from them, into the human world, they finally found her little girl, and ever since then, targeted her, burning down her house and leaving her family to run. After the virus prevailed over the human population, the Okamotos became a group of scavengers willing to survive. It was only then that Akira Okamoto learned of her destiny. And then the vampires captured her," Lest mused.

"Oh really," Ferid sang, interested.

"Yes, really. She was submitted into the livestock system with her family, but it wasn't before long that she hit and ran," Lest exclaimed, tapping his fingers onto the table that separated the chair that Ferid was sitting in from the one that he chose to rest upon.

"But of course, she got captured and killed, I would assume? And what is leftover is that village Krul escaped to?" Ferid concluded smugly.

"You surely underestimate that remainder of the Petrova Clan, I see. Tsk, tsk," Lest mumbled softly, tilting his head to the side and grinning.

"You mean... she made it out?" Ferid gasped.

Lest nodded his head. "Don't you remember?"

Ferid took a moment to ponder over that moment. Then he finally did remember...

" _That_ was the human who stunned me!" Ferid realized in awe, grinning. "What a getaway..."

"Quite the memory, for years ago," The ruler laughed. He then sighed. "Her mother was incredibly strong."

"Was?"

"Dead..." Lest explained in just one word. "I have no idea how, whatsoever, but I only remember seeing her little girl. Now I presume that the kid is alive, older, and still going forth for that matter."

"You sense her?" Ferid asked.

"Yes, I do." Lest's eyes narrowed now at the girl, who started to weep again, only loudly this time. She all of a sudden shrieked, "Kill me already! Just kill me!"

Ferid beamed at the crying girl and then glanced at the king. "Shall I?"

"That filthy little human is getting on my nerves. I shall," He sternly responded, then glaring at the girl. "Come here, would you, human?"

The girl was terrified, but took one last peek at her sister, whose eyes still coldly looked back at her, still through the cold breeze that slashed her cheeks.

Lest cackled as he bent over to the girl's height and cooed, "So, you want to die?"

The girl nodded, and to both of the vampire's surprises, said through streaming tears, "And make it quick."

The ruler hesitated, offended for a second. He liked her guts, and hated them at the same time. "Oh well, then. I must say..."

Ferid smirked. "That girl has Chess's attitude..."

"That other one was like Horn... before she went crazy and tried to leave," Lest muttered. "I still like the thought of these two."

"Oh then? I thought us vampires didn't like to increase our numbers at all!" Ferid exclaimed.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Krul turned a livestock into a vampire just so she could keep her Seraph gene alive. And he isn't even one anymore! We're losing numbers at the second. Blending in is easy, Ferid," Lest explained matter-of-factly.

"W-what?" The little girl was horribly confused at this minute, drying her tears away.

"A little twelve year old and eleven year old. Both seemed mature." Lest then leaned over toward the girl. "I'm not going to kill you, human kid. How would you like it if I can bring back your big sister over there? And make you very strong?" He asked cunningly.

"I, I-" The girl was interrupted.

"Now, you two kids will not tell anyone I did this. That I ever turned you. But..." Lest stood up and walked over to a shelf that held glasses and plates for gigantic feasts. He took a small glass out and grasped a blade that he held in his pocket.

After a minute of staring at his still back, the girl stumbled back when he finally turned to her. He was holding a glass with a few drops of a red liquid. He walked over to her and ruffled her side parted, blonde hair before handing her the glass.

"Some fruit juice, to give you strength. I will heal your sister later," Lest said in a fake voice of kindness as he trailed away toward a shocked but amused Ferid, who smiled, containing his laughter.

As Lest Karr sat back in his crimson throne, he grinned to himself, keeping the blade ready for the other girl. As he twisted the blade around playfully, he loudly exclaimed to the seventh progenitor in German, "Oh, der Krieg wird kommen."

Ferid nodded.

"Indeed."


End file.
